Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP are due to report production data this week as well as give market outlooks.

The Australian Stock Exchange notched up 42 IPOs in mining-related businesses over the past 12 months despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

Goldman Sachs see prices falling back to $110 a tonne by the fourth quarter.

Although China will likely maintain its dominance for the foreseeable future, other countries are ramping up their mining and refining capacities.

Goldman Sachs expects the market to enter a surplus in the second half of the year on higher Brazilian exports.

The mining giant is exploring the use of bunker fuels such as liquefied natural gas and biofuels to replace fuel oil, aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 40% when shipping its products.

After a sharp decline in 2020 gold output from the top 8 producers is expected to recover this year says GlobalData.

Drilling started in late 2020 to add eight production wells at the lithium project, with the first two completed.