Vale Verde completes Serrote copper mine build

A December 2017 feasibility study estimated the open-pit project would produce about 116,000 ounces of gold over a 17-year mine life.

"This partnership secures lithium supplies for us and breaks the Chinese monopoly" - Wolfgang Tiefensee economy minister of the German state of Thuringia, an automotive manufacturing hub.

"We're worried that the mine accident might lead to higher premiums on low-aluminium iron ore"

By Monday, local officials had confirmed at least 60 people dead and said they fear that among the hundreds who are still missing there will be very few survivors.

“How can they let this happen again?” Melo said. “They wiped out our city.”

Vale plunged as much as 20 percent in Sao Paulo on Monday, the biggest intraday drop since October 2008.

The mineral resource update totalled 9.85 million tonnes at 3.6 grams per tonne of gold for 1.14 million of indicate ounces, a surge of 57,000 ounces from the previous update.

An alarm warning of an imminent mining dam rupture was issued on Sunday morning near Brumadinho, the same Brazilian community where the collapse of Vale's dam on Friday killed at least 58 and left over 400 more feared dead.

Antofagasta's copper production rose 3 percent to 725,300 tonnes last year, allowing the company to weigh potential expansion projects.