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Copper, aluminium poised to slide
Copper and aluminium prices are expected to lose steam after prices surged despite surpluses that will persist into 2018.
Copper and aluminium prices are expected to lose steam after prices surged despite surpluses that will persist into 2018.
​Thermal coal is expected to trade in a roughly $US70-80 a tonne range this year, analysts and traders say.
​Copper closed lower, hurt by a strengthening US dollar, after hitting a two-month high earlier in the day.
Chinese steel and iron ore futures rose for a third session as investors bet on firm demand after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Copper hits two-month high, before retreating to end flat. Most other metals eased ahead of Lunar New Year.
Prices are near the highest in more than two years on speculation of sustained Chinese demand for imports.
A dividend hike and a possible share buyback on the cards when global miner Rio Tinto releases its earnings early next month, after finalising deals to raise as much as $US3.8 billion from asset sales in recent months.
BHP has boosted output of iron ore to record levels while prolonging its curtailment of oil and gas output in the US as it waits for prices to improve, its latest production report shows.
The Queensland government has revived an eight-year-old Bligh government plan to release a parcel of land for gas exploration to be used only for Australian-supply.
Shares in Rio Tinto surged from the opening bell with sentiment cheered by the sale of a further suite of coal mines which raises the odds of a buy-back or dividend hike.
An arm of the Chinese government has snapped up Rio Tinto coal mines in NSW for $US2.5 billion
Aluminium climbed to a 20-month peak after reports of potential capacity cuts in China while zinc touched a five-week high.
BlueScope shares surged Tuesday thanks to a surprise profit upgrade as steel prices remained stronger than anticipated
Garry Jones stepped down as chief executive officer after a three-year stint steering the world's biggest metals bourse.
BHP Billiton and its partner in the deadly Samarco mine venture Vale are facing a fight with its bankers after a class action was filed in New York.
The President of Guinea is disputing public statements made by Rio Tinto about the firing of a senior executive for a $US10.5 million payment made to the president's friend Francois de Combret.
Axiom Mining not daunted by recent upheaval in the nickel as Indonesia has eased export bans while the Philippines ramps up moves to force some producers to close.
Swiss prosecutors will question Beny Steinmetz in Geneva amid an inquiry into allegations of bribery involving a $US20 billion mining project in the Simandou hills in the west African country of Guinea.
Guinea President Alpha Conde said the firing of Alan Davies was the result of a feud over succession within Rio Tinto.
The destiny of iron ore prices may lie in the hands of miners scattered across China, lured by recent price gains.
Capital management will improve at the next earnings season but the rewards might not be the windfall investors think.
A controversial $900 million expansion of Queensland's Acland open-cut coal mine is a step closer after receiving federal government approval.
The owners of the soon-to-be closed Hazelwood power station have conceded the bill to rehabilitate the mine and demolish the ageing plant will run to almost three-quarters of a billion dollars.
Aluminium retreated from a 20-month high on expectations that its rally will be brought to a halt by increasing supply.
​Chinese steel and iron ore futures fell for a second session as demand for the commodities turned tepid.
BHP, Vale and Samarco will initially provide $US681 million to support compensation and remediation from the impact of the fatal dam failure.
Gladstone's Boyne Island aluminium smelter is set to shed jobs and cut production, thanks to soaring Queensland power prices.
Rio Tinto Group and its largest shareholder Aluminum Corp of China have terminated a joint venture to find copper deposits.
The Brazilian mine owned by BHP and Vale will "probably" be operating again in two months, the country's mines minister said.
Chinese iron ore futures pulled back from a three-year high as steel prices retreated in volatile trading.
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