Back on the menu: Chinese steel mills regain taste for high-grade iron ore

Despite bans on export of iron ore from India, the price of the steelmaking ingredient has fallen in China. Business Standard reports that the price of iron ore originating from India has dropped 12% in Chinese markets to $168 a tonne, compared to $191 a tonne two weeks ago. The website quotes the chairman of Maya Iron Ores, a commodities brokerage, saying that Chinese steelmakers and traders expect the market to drop even further due to global financial turmoil and reduced demand:

St. Louis Business Journal reports Peabody Energy on Thursday received clearance from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China to proceed with its and ArcelorMittal’s $4.7 billion takeover bid for Macarthur Coal Ltd. in Australia. The Macurthur deal is good news for the US giant after it recently lost out on a chance to co-develop the world’s largest deposit of high-quality coking coal. Miners are scrambling for coal assets and coal for power-generation has averaged about $130/tonne this year from less than $100 in 2010 while metallurgical coal has been trading at record levels of $330/tonne.

According to data posted on the website of the Chinese General Administration of Customs, the country reported robust commodities purchases in September as traders took advantage of falling prices. Chinese copper imports hit a 16-month high in September after increasing almost 12% from a month earlier to 380,526 metric tons as domestic stockpiles were reduced by almost half since March. Copper imports have now showed gains for the fourth month in a row.

Real Gold, which halted trading in its shares on May 27. is under investigation by the Securities and Futures Commission for corporate governance breaches. The miner's announcement to the Hong Kong stock exchange late on Thursday said it was lookin...

Eldorado Gold (TSE:ELD) announced that it hit record production in the third quarter. Its three mines, Kisladag, Jinfeng, Tanjianshan and White Mountain, produced 179,195 oz in Q3 at a cash cost of $397/oz. The company also said that iron ore sales in the quarter totalled 170,781 tonnes at a realized price of US$122/tonne. "We are extremely pleased that all operating mines continue to perform in accordance with plan in terms of production levels and cash operating costs, which resulted in record quarterly production for the corporation," commented Paul Wright, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Vancouver, B.C. Monument Mining Limited (TSX-V: MMY and FSE: D7Q1) ("Monument" or the "Company") announces its intention to carry out a non-brokered private placement of up to 156,250,000 units at a price of $0.45 per unit for gross proceeds to the Company of up to $70,000,000 (the "Offering"). Each unit will consist of one common share and one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.67 per share for a period of 36 months from the closing of the Offering.

World energy consumption is set to grow 53% by 2035 and most of that energy will be coming from fossil fuels, according to a study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. While energy consumption will grow slowly in the U.S. and Europe, countries like China and India that are growing their industrial base will be gobbling up more and more energy.

Reuters reports China will extend a resource tax – calculated on value rather than volume of production – on domestic sales of crude oil and natural gas from some regions to the whole country and expand the list of taxable resources to coking coal and rare earths from November 1. The move, billed as a way of conserving resources and limiting environmental damage, is part of a long-awaited tax reform that would enrich the coffers of local governments but slash the earnings of resource companies, such as PetroChina Co, China National Petroleum Corp and Baotou Steel Rare Earths by billions of dollars each year. The tax on rare-earth ores will be levied according to a wide range of between yuan 0.4 – 60 per ton and between yuan 8 – 20 a tonne on coking coal.

The Wall Street Journal reports Mongolia is relaunching talks with international miners on developing the western block of Tavan Tolgoi in the South Gobi desert, the world’s largest deposit of high-quality coking coal used in steelmaking. Mongolia's National Security Council rejected a deal struck with US giant Peabody Energy, China's Shenhua and a Russian-Mongolian consortium mid-September, just two months after they were announced as winners. At the time losing bidders from Brazil, India and South Korea raised serious concerns and Japan went so far as to call the bidding process 'extremely regrettable'. Mongolia still hopes to privatize its Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi coal-mining company which controls the remainder of the 6 billion tonne resource for upwards of $3 billion next year.