London Metal Exchange raises fees by a third

Anglo American's $5.4 billion sale of its 24% stake in Codelco to Mitsubishi — Japan's largest trading house — is just the beginning of further rounds of competition between Japanese trading houses for the red metal. According to Reuters, Japan's top trading houses are flush with cash and ready to compete for copper assets, which they see as good prospects as demand for the metal rises and supply tightens: The competition is likely to drive up asset prices for potentially lucrative properties holding the base metal, with the trading houses jostling for the prize of becoming the top supplier for the world's fifth biggest copper market and to tap surging demand in China and other emerging markets.

FLSmidth has been awarded a contract worth approximately USD 70m (approximately DKK 350m) for equipment supplies to a copper mine in Latin America. The contract includes delivery of a 76,000 tonnes per day grinding circuit consisting of two very large SAG mills and two ball mills. The mills will be the largest gear-driven mills in the world. The order signifies FLSmidth's strong commitment in this important copper market and continues to strengthen its competitive position as a leading supplier to the industry.

The prices of rare earth elements, which have enjoyed a three-year run, are dropping rapidly, reports New York Times. The reason, says The Times, is on the manufacturing side, as big companies in the US, Europe and Japan that use REES in manufacturing move operations to China, draw down inventories, and look for lower-cost substitutes: International prices for some light rare earths, like cerium and lanthanum, used in the polishing of flat-screen televisions and the refining of oil, respectively, have fallen as much as two-thirds since August and are still dropping. Prices have declined by roughly one-third since then for highly magnetic rare earths, like neodymium, needed for products like smartphones, computers and large wind turbines.

Diamonds were the talk of the Tower of London on Tuesday 8 November at a private dinner held to mark the start of a three-day summit to identify the world's most famous diamonds. With over 100 diamonds in the world at 100 carats or more, the criteria for Famous Diamonds must necessarily extend beyond size to focus on the rare qualities and historical provenance of these extraordinary gemstones, for example The Golden Jubilee, the world's largest faceted diamond in the King's Royal Palace in Thailand, The Centenary which has recently returned to the Sultan of Brunei after spending years in a London safety deposit box, the Incomparable hidden in the US and The Light of Peace in the Middle East.

A new European study says supply shortfalls of rare-earth elements over the next two decades put at risk the EU's ambitious plans to expand the production of solar, wind and green transport technologies and implement carbon-capture systems. According to the EU's Joint Research Centre, solar will require half the current world supply of tellurium and 25% of the supply of indium, while Europe’s wind energy programme which is supposed to power all of the continents 240 million households within 20 years need a steady supply of neodymium and dysprosium. China controls 95% of the globe's rare earth output in 2010 produced more solar panels than the rest of the world combined.

The Wall Street Journal profiles a Western Australian mine worker who runs underground drills in remote mining towns.

Metso and the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, have finalized a three-year agreement encompassing joint research and performance evaluations of the VERTIMILL® Grinding Mill developed by Metso.

The price of US crude oil broke through the psychologically important $100/barrel level on Wednesday after news of a pipeline deal that will relieve the oil glut in Cushing, Oklahoma, the pricing point for US crude. The US benchmark crude price West Texas Intermediate is now up more than a third from year-lows of $76 struck in early October. On top of the almost 3% move higher to $102 on Wednesday, the gap between WTI and the international benchmark price, Brent, reduced dramatically. From a record margin of $26.87 early September, WTI is now less than $10 cheaper. At the same time the discount on Western Canada Select narrowed 55 cents to $11.40/barrel meaning oil sands producers now get more than $90 per barrel for their heavy oil for the first time since June.

Stornoway Diamond Corporation CA:SWY -10.00% is pleased to announce the results of the Feasibility Study ("FS") for the Renard Diamond Project located in North Central Quebec.