Mixed signals for China steel and iron ore point to prices drifting lower

Mongolia's state-owned miner Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (TT) has agreed to sell $250 million worth of coal from the east Tsankhi deposit to Aluminium Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) , a move insiders said was aimed at raising cash to help fund its impending listing fees. Under the agreement, Chalco would resell 30 percent of the coal to Japanese trading houses Itochu Corp and Mitsui as well as state-owned Korea Resources Corp (KORES), Erdenes TT LLC said in a statement seen on Wednesday.

De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, announced Tuesday that it will further expand its retail outlets in China, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The bubble that is keeping iron ore prices at historic highs may be about to burst, and when it does, iron ore giant Fortescue Minerals will still be making money, the company's new CEO predicts.

Beijing has issued a veiled threat to Australia's long-term economic future. It has vowed to break the power of the big mining companies by sourcing 50 per cent of its iron ore imports from Chinese-invested companies.

China, which became the world’s largest gold producer since in 2007, retained its position again in 2010 by mining 340.88 tonnes, up 8.57 percent year on year, the China Gold Association said Sunday. Increases in gold output will help China hedge against financial risks and inflation, as well as maintain economic security, the association said.

Chinese state-owned company Dafeng Port Group plans to set up a ferronickel industry in Kotabaru, South Kalimantan with a production capacity of 200 million metric tons a year. The president director of Dafeng Port Group Co. Ltd., Ni Xiangrong, said here on Saturday the Dafeng Port Group Co.Ltd. has successfully developed an integrated economic zone in China and plan to build a ferronickel industry and its support industries in Kotabaru.

Police have detained eight people in east China's Shandong Province in connection with a coal mine fire that has trapped 28 miners for more than two weeks, local authorities said Saturday. A total of 91 people were working underground in the Fangbei Coal Mine in the province's city of Zaozhuang on July 6 when an air compression device located in a parking lot 255 meters underground caught fire.

China's coal imports dropped 11.8 percent in the first half of the year to 70.49 million tonnes while exports also fell 13.7 percent to 8.75 million tonnes. During the period, the nation recorded a net import of 61.74 million tonnes of coal. The figure fell 11.5 percent year-on-year amid surging international coal prices, according to figures released Friday by the China National Coal Association.

China has discovered its largest molybdenum deposit containing 2.2 million tons of the silvery metal, which ranks the second largest in the world, in east China's Anhui province. Anhui Geology and Mineral Resources Bureau estimate the deposit in Jinzhai county has 1.275 billion tons of ore which contains 2.2 million tons of molybdenum, said Wu Yulong, head of the bureau.