Miners speed up automation as covid-19 impacts linger

Iron ore will recover to above $90 a tonne over the medium term, but dips to low $70s not ruled out.

As in the retail gold market, there's a giant sucking sound in the official sector going East.

China's coal consumption declined in the first half of this year and government data suggests that the country's coal imports have dropped.

The latest restrictions on production, consumption and imports could drive prices 10% higher by the end of the year.

2014 is the "inflection point" and "until mines close it's a world of $70 prices of iron ore."

Filipino supply worries, depleting Chinese stocks and Indonesian refinery delays could see nickel rise close to $30,000 a tonne.

Reviving the China-India ore trade which peaked at 120mtpa in 2009 could be part of a grand bargain when Modi and Xi meet for the first time in New Delhi.

CEO Chuck Jeannes says barring a major technological breakthrough global gold production probably peaked in 2013.

A big corporate break-up à la BHP Billiton is definitively not in his books, he told FT.com.