Chilean miner SQM sees uncertain short-term demand for lithium

Lago Dourado Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:LDM) (the "Company") announced today that it has signed an agreement with Geomin to acquire a 100% interest in the remaining 16 exploration licenses, previously under option, at its flagship gold project Juruena, in the Mato Grosso state of Brazil. The Company will now hold a 100% interest in the entire project which consists of 25 exploration licenses, covering approximately 70,000 hectares. There is currently one drill rig turning at Juruena with two rigs expected to be added in the coming weeks.

World No. 1 copper producer Codelco said on Wednesday it was preparing to halt its Ventanas smelter after a court ordered it to do so following an environmental complaint.

BHP Billiton today announced approval for the Escondida Ore Access project (EOA), the first of a number of development options that will underline Escondida’s status as the world’s premier copper operation. The EOA project will relocate the crushing and conveying facilities currently located inside Escondida’s main pit to improve access to higher grade ore and thereby support higher production from 2013. The project is expected to cost US$554 million (US$319 million BHP Billiton share) and will be completed by mid calendar year 2012.

Southern Copper, one of the world's largest producers of the metal, has postponed its $1 billion Tia Maria mining project in Peru because of social conflicts, Chief Executive Oscar Gonzalez said on Tuesday. The company (SCCO.N: Quote) will revise the project's viability later this month and consider alternative sites in Argentina and Ecuador in the meantime, Gonzalez told local television.

Strait Gold Corporation (TSX-V:SRD), is pleased to report final assay results from a 2000-metre drill program at its Alicia copper-gold project in southern Peru. Highlights include: - 134.0 metres of 0.29% copper, 0.03 grams per tonne (g/t) gold in hole ALC11-16, including 9.75 metres of 1.27% copper, 0.07 g/t gold and 0.032% molybdenite; and, - 18.5 metres of 1.25% copper, 0.15g/t gold, 13.3 g/t silver and 0.012% molybdenite in ALC11-17. Image from Strait Gold Corporation

A Mexican tribunal ruled in favor of Grupo Mexico in its fight to merge its two railroad units, throwing out a complaint by competition authorities, the company and the antitrust regulator said on Monday. Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX: Quote), which owns copper mines in Mexico, Peru and the United States, also operates Ferromex, Mexico's largest railroad company. In 2005, Grupo Mexico bought another rail line, Ferrosur, through a subsidiary.

A four-day-old strike has paralyzed Bolivia's San Cristobal mine, which produces silver, zinc and lead and accounts for about half the country's mining exports, the government said on Monday. San Cristobal is the world's third-largest producer of silver and the sixth-largest producer of zinc, according to Japan's Sumitomo Corp (8053.T: Quote), which fully owns the mine.

Brazilian mining company Vale has pushed out Chief Executive Roger Agnelli under heavy government pressure and is in discussions to replace him with an executive from within, local media reported on Sunday. President Dilma Rousseff has used the government's influence as a key Vale (VALE5.SA: Quote) shareholder to insist the company remove Agnelli following years of accusations it was not doing enough to bolster Brazil's economic development.

Global No. 1 copper producer Chile's Codelco said Friday its 2010 output dipped but should be steady this year, and expects strong Chinese demand, Japan's recovery after a natural disaster, as well as new uses to stoke demand. Codelco said profits surged 47 percent to $5.8 billion in 2010, with a rise in copper prices to record highs more than compensating for a 0.8 percent fall in production from 2009 to 1.688 million tonnes. [ID:nN08136598]