Dividend over digging: Miners pay shareholders but need new projects

Some of the latest battery technologies may become obsolete before reaching the market because of the breakneck pace of advances in the industry.

If company and union leaders reach a consensus, the mediation would be further extended for several days so the 2,459 workers can vote to accept or reject the new offer.

Called off strike at world's largest copper mine adds to pressure on copper price now down nearly 20% in little over two months.

Chilean copper producer Antofagasta said first-half core earnings fell 16.2 percent from a year earlier.

The project is made up of five contiguous exploration permits and has a historic gold production of around 40,000 ounces of gold, mined between 1985 and 1996.

The $87.5-million deal is the latest Chinese acquisition of a lithium project in South America, following Tianqi Lithium’s decision to buy 24% of SQM for $4.1 billion, which has not yet been approved by Chile’s antitrust regulator.

While lithium and potash are often found in the same deposits and mined together, the increasing number of projects aimed at producing the white metal shouldn’t have an impact in the potash market.

Chile, known for its vast copper deposits, is joining the search for cobalt amid soaring demand for a metal that’s mostly mined in the politically risky Democratic Republic of Congo, which holds 60% of the world's reserves.

The struggling mine, Gold Fields’ only asset left in South Africa, holds the world’s largest gold deposit after Grasberg in Indonesia and accounts for 60% for the company’s mineral reserves.