Tianqi’s top shareholder to get up to $2.5bn injection

The New South Wales Government decided there would be no open-pit mining at the site formerly known as Drayton South, but it paved the way for an underground mine instead.

As soon as the new year kicks off, Fortescue Metals Group will be led by new CEO Elizabeth Gaines and her right hand Julie Shuttleworth.

The business intelligence firm says output will pick up, supported by higher gold prices and solid projects in key countries.

Chinese firms have shown “broad interest” in buying PotashCorp’s stake in the Chilean lithium producer SQM, according to chief executive Jochen Tilk, who declined to name interested parties or the number of bids the company has received.

The Western Australian government’s second attempt at increasing the royalty rate for gold miners has failed to pass in Parliament.

The Ecuador-focused miner said it has discovered "promising" new copper prospects at the Porvenir and Timbara projects, with rock chip samples graded up to 4.27% copper.

They say the mining industry is being asked to achieve thousands of years of natural soil development in under a decade.

Analyst Hui Shan said that Goldman’s projections see iron ore falling to $60 a ton in three months, $55 in six and $50 in 12.

The world’s No.1 miner is targeting as much as $1.6 billion in productivity gains at its iron ore, copper and coal units in the country over the next two years.