Iron ore price jumps on big spread between spot cargoes and futures

On Oct. 11, Chile's Constitutional Court put the brakes on a $4 billion deal allowing the sale of A 24 percent stake in SQM to China's Tianqi Lithium Corp.

The operation was put on hold in 2013 due to environmental issues, political opposition, labor unrest and development costs that ballooned to $8.5 billion.

Chile's Codelco is in the midst of upgrading its smelter at Chuquicamata, its second largest operation by size, to comply with stricter emissions standards coming in effect in December.

Settlement creates partnership that could lead to restarting production at Rusoro's former mines in the South American country.

A wave of environmentally focused anti-mining referendums over the past 18 months have worried investors.

The Constitutional Court said it would hear arguments in the case on Oct. 22.

The company's recently-acquired Riacho dos Machados (RDM) mine will be closed for about two months.

Chile's Supreme Court upheld an environmental order for a gold mine owned by Canada's Kinross Gold Corp to close its water pumping wells.

The controlling shareholder in Chilean lithium producer SQM on Wednesday filed suit with Chile's Constitutional Court.