Mining & Resources

 

'Vale and BHP were completely careless'

President Dilma Rousseff accompanied by Minas Gerais state Gov. Fernando Pimentel, looks out over the dam site.

8:38 AM   Brazil officials lash mining giants in wake of Samarco tragedy, while levying initial fines of $93m.

Palladium volatility at highest since '12

Bulls may get a reprieve, as a China auto-sales report on Wednesday showed the biggest gain in 10 months in October.

Luzi Ann Javier 7:50 AM   Palladium's wild price swings are sending some investors running, though all may not be lost just yet.

Copper drops to six-year low in London

Copper is likely to extend losses in coming weeks to $US4397, the June 2009 low, said London-based Commerzbank technical analyst Axel Rudolph.

5:06 AM   ​Copper prices tumbled overnight, weighed down by a strong US dollar, weak Chinese credit data and concern about oversupply.

Wesfarmers committed to coal

Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder is committed to coal.

Julie-anne Sprague 12:15 AM   Wesfarmers managing director Richard Goyder believes cleaner Australian coal can help cut global carbon emissions.

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BHP, Vale create emergency fund

Andrew Mackenzie, Chief Executive of BHP Billiton speaks at the Minerals Week 2015 seminar on the 3rd of June, 2015 at Hotel Realm in Canberra. Pic Stefan Postles

James Attwood 6:07 PM   BHP Billiton and Vale's iron-ore joint venture in Brazil is creating a fund for rebuilding and to help victims of a massive mudslide triggered by the bursting of dams.

Inside the bold plan to extend the life of the Tropicana gold mine

Tropicana's joint venture owners want to apply "strip mining" principles used in open-pit coal mining to double the mine's life.

Tess Ingram 4:04 PM   Australia's fourth-largest gold mine, Tropicana, is looking to the coal sector for an innovative approach to extend its mine life.

CBA tips cut in BHP dividend

It's been a tough period for BHP.

Peter Ker 3:47 PM   Commonwealth Bank analyst Andrew Hines has forecast BHP shareholders to receive the same dividend ($US1.24) in the 2016 financial year as they did in the 2015 financial year.

Macmahon wins $241m contract

The company said it will be deliver the contract in a 50-50 joint venture with a leading Indonesian contractor.

Macmahon Holdings has won a five-year contract worth about $US170 million ($240.9 million) to provide mining services at an Indonesia mine.

BHP's reputation on the line

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Adele Ferguson   It took a week but BHP Billiton and its partner Vale have agreed to set up an emergency fund in Brazil after seeing first hand the damage done by the tragic dam failure.

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BHP's deepening crisis in Brazil

Samarco is working with police, firefighters and other rescue workers to help the injured and homeless.

Amanda Saunders, Lia Timson, Matthew Stevens and James Thomson   BHP Billiton has refused to say whether it was aware of a 2013 report that warned of design flaws in the tailings dam.

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PM's climate plan falls far short on carbon cut

The Turnbull government's main climate policy covers just one-seventh of pledged emission cuts, the Climate Institute says.

Peter Hannam   The centrepiece of the Turnbull government's climate policy will deliver just one-seventh of Australia's post-2020 carbon reduction goals, according to analysis by the Climate Institute.

China's steel output drops 3.1pc in October v year ago

Steel supply in China for the first 10 months of this year was 675.1 million tons, 2.2 per cent less than the same period in 2014.

Bloomberg News   Production in China dropped in October from a year earlier as mills battled lower domestic demand, slumping prices and rising industry losses.

BHP under fire over dam warning

A rescue worker walks in mud next to the carcass of a dead cow during rescue work at the town of Bento Rodrigues after a dam burst on Thursday, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil.

Amanda Saunders, Lia Timson and Vanessa Desloires   Concerns were raised publicly about the design of a BHP Billiton dam in Brazil more than two years before it catastrophically failed, killing as many as 28 people.

Calderon: no reason BHP's Brazil ops not 'first world'

Alberto Calderon says with Vale and BHP on the Samarco board, monitoring of mining in South America should be 'first world'.

Amanda Saunders   Orica chief executive Alberto Calderon says there is no reason the iron ore operation that caused a deadly mudslide in Brazil would not be run at "first world" standards, given owners BHP Billiton and Vale are both represented on the board.

Twiggy says ore prices set to fall

Andrew Forrest used the meeting to describe the behaviour of the major producers, BHP Billton and Rio Tinto, as "ridiculous".

Julie-anne Sprague   Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest has warned iron ore prices are likely to drift lower in the coming months.

BHP must compensate victims in Brazil

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Adele Ferguson   There is an old saying that trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.

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The sole sell recommendation on hallowed BHP

Just one analyst is willing to recommend to "sell" coveted blue-chip stock BHP Billiton.

Vanessa Desloires and Sally Rose   There's 24 analysts looking at BHP Billiton, but only one stands out from the crowd with an "underweight" recommendation.

Super funds mull BHP Billiton, most analysts keep the faith

Just one analyst is willing to recommend to "sell" coveted blue chip stock BHP Billiton.

Vanessa Desloires and Sally Rose   There's 24 analysts looking at BHP Billiton, but only one stands out from the crowd with an "underweight" recommendation.

Brazil official blames negligence for mine disaster

Samarco said 601 people were placed in hotels in the area as the army, police and firefighters engaged in relief efforts.

James Thomson   A Brazilian prosecutor has claimed that negligence and human error caused the disaster at the BHP Billiton-owned Samarco iron ore mine

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Fortescue to repay $1b debt

Oil price, Brazil dam disaster and the ability to maintain its progressive dividend policy are weighing on BHP.

Fortescue Metals Group is repaying debt worth $US750million ($1.07 billion) as part of its efforts to reduce interest costs.

Steel coal prices seen holding steady at record low

Asian buyers will probably pay $US89 a metric ton for hard coking coal, in the three-month period starting January 1, according to a survey by Bloomberg.

Ben Sharples and Tsuyoshi Inajima   The pain may not let up next year for metallurgical coal producers from Australia to the US as quarterly contract prices are forecast to remain at a record low.

Zinc touches six-year low on weak China demand bets

In London trade, zinc touched $US1576, the lowest since July 2009. The base metal is down 26 per cent this year.

Agnieszka de Sousa   Zinc dropped to the lowest since 2009, leading declines in industrial metals after weaker-than-expected inflation in China added to concern about slowing growth.

China mining boom the last 'in human history'

The obvious strategy is to buy the company at the bottom of the cycle, and Intelligent Investor has a "buy" recommendation on BHP.

Peter Ker   The final commodities boom in "human history" may have just finished, according to prominent economist Saul Eslake.

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BHP has dug itself a hole

BHP

Peter Ker   Some of BHP's big investors have vowed to seize on moments of poor sentiment toward big miners, but in the wake of the Samarco tragedy, do they still want to take it?

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WA Premier looking to 2016 for Roy Hill's first shipment

WA Premier Colin Barnett said he expects Roy Hill to ship early in 2016.

Tess Ingram   Gina Rinehart's $10 billion Roy Hill project is likely to ship its first ore early next year, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says.

Why BHP's shares are under pressure

BHP Billiton is increasingly being sold short.

Vanessa Desloires   The Samarco mine disaster is the last thing BHP shareholder would want, with the overall market cap of the dual-listed company down $40 billion in 2015.

BHP axes Port Hedland tug operator

Iron ore exports are booming through Port Hedland. Photo: Bloomberg

Peter Ker   BHP Billiton has responded aggressively to last year's industrial dispute at Port Hedland by axing its unionised tugboat provider.

World 1 degree warmer since industrialisation

For the first time, temperatures have warmed a full degree since industrialisation

Peter Hannam   The world has warmed more than one degree since pre-industrial times, passing a key milestone for the first time.

BHP iron venture halted amid probe

Men carry an injured dog after rescuing it in the small town of Bento Rodrigues, which flooded after dams burst in Minas Gerais. Twelve employees and 13 residents are still unaccounted for, according to the fire department.

Andrew Willis, David Stringer and Yasmine Batista   BHP Billiton's CEO is scheduled to arrive in Brazil after authorities there suspended operating permits at an iron-ore venture after two tailings dams burst, causing deadly mudslides.

Peabody to come clean on climate

Peabody will have to be more open about what it really thinks about climate change and coal.

Kevin McCoy   The world's largest publicly-traded coal company has agreed to make fuller public disclosures about the risks climate change poses to its business in a settlement of charges that it misled investors and the public.