Mining executives split on who bears burden of climate change

Zijn's main interest in Ivanhoe seems to be the Kamoa copper project.

The U.S. miner said the sale is part of a strategy to divest non-core assets and focus on supplying iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry.

There are a number of challenges South32 is likely to face, including potential Black Economic Empowerment ownership concessions and power price hikes.

The seven-month work stoppage as crippled the U.S. only facility that converts uranium oxide into hexafluoride, used as fuel in nuclear power plants.

Dotted with lucrative gold mines like Red Lake, Hemlo, Musselwhite and Timmins, along with the nickel belt of Sudbury, Ontario with its storied mining history should be a prospector's dream.

The regulation forces mining companies to consider the possibility of a tailings disaster and evaluate the environmental, health, social and economic impacts of an accident.

Coal mine fatalities in China dropped almost 87% to 931 last year from more than 7,000 casualties registered in the sector in 2002, according to official figures recently disclosed.

The updated regulations, in the works since 2012, set standards for wells and disposal of wastewater. They also require disclosure of chemicals used.

The copper price recovered from a one-month low on Wednesday to gain 3% on Thursday, as the metal markets reacted to a dovish Fed statement and news out of Indonesia that production has stopped at the Grasberg mine.