Global primary aluminium production rose 4.11 per cent in November from a year earlier
According to the latest data from the International Aluminium Association, global primary aluminium production was 5.471 million tonnes in November, up 4.11 per cent year on year, with an average daily output of 182,400 tonnes.
From January to November this year, global primary aluminum production totaled 59.707 million tons, up 2.56 percent year on year.
Sundance Resources is seeking $8.76 billion in damages from the Democratic Republic of Congo
Sundance Resources, an Australian mining company, said on Monday it had started arbitration proceedings against the Democratic Republic of Congo for $8.76bn after the Government revoked the licence for its Nabeba iron ore project.
The Nabeba licence is part of Sundance Resources' flagship Mbalam-Nabeba project, which straddles the Border between Congo and Cameroon and has not yet started mining iron ore.
Fitch expects global copper output to grow by 3.7 percent over the next decade
Fitch Solutions' latest report forecasts that global copper production will grow at an average annual rate of 3.7 per cent between 2021 and 2029, with total output rising from 21.5 million tonnes to 27.8 million tonnes.
Market analysts expect copper production to grow 6.9 per cent year on year in 2021 due to multiple new projects coming online and a 2020 production decline due to COVID-19.
Chile has led the growth, and Peruvian copper production is set to rebound strongly.
Fitch expects China's copper output to grow 1.5 percent a year from 2021 to 2029, compared with an average growth rate of 4.6 percent over the past decade.
Australian agencies expect iron ore prices to remain above $100 a tonne for six months
Australia's iron ore export earnings are expected to peak at A $123bn in 2020-2021, according to the quarterly outlook report from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.
It expects iron ore prices to remain firm over the next six months.
Iron ore prices will stay above $100 a tonne by mid-2021 and fall back above $75 a tonne by the end of 2022.
Australia's iron ore exports are expected to grow from 858 million tonnes in 2019-2020 to 900 million tonnes in 2021-2022.
Vale received the permits needed to start construction of the Capanema project
Vale announced on Monday that it had obtained all the permits needed to start construction of the Cappanema project on Friday.
The project investment will be used for the Kapanema mine, including the re-commissioning and acquisition of new equipment, the installation of a long-distance conveyor belt, and the adjustment of the Timbopeba mine yard. The company expects the total multi-year investment for the project to be $495 million.
The Capanema project is expected to begin production in the second half of 2023 with an annual capacity of 18 million tons.
The Chapada copper and gold mine has resumed full production
Lundin mining announced on Monday that it would resume full productivity at its Chapada copper and gold mine in northern Brazil.
In September, the company withdrew guidance on Chapada mine 2020 production, cash costs and capital expenditure after a power failure damaged all four of its SAG and ball mill motors.
Production of copper and gold from the mine has reached the lower end of its 2020 guidance range of 45, 000 to 50, 000 tonnes of copper and 80, 000 to 85, 000 ounces of gold.
First Quantum appointed Tristan Pascall as chief Operating officer
First Quantum on Monday appointed Tristan Pascall, its head of strategy, as chief operating officer and said Clive Newall, its long-serving president, would step down from his executive role but remain a director.
Pascall will serve as chief Operating Officer from January 1, 2021 and will remain general Manager of The Cobre Panama mine until then.
Mexico denies environmental permits for Ixtaca projects
Almaden Minerals has encountered difficulties in bringing the Ixtaca au-Ag deposit into production.
The company received notification on Monday from Mexico's federal Licensing agency that the project's initial environmental permit application (MIA) had been rejected.
Almaden originally submitted MIA in early 2019.
According to the company, the reasons for not approving the MIA include insufficient information about the impact of strip mining on the local environment.
Alcoa has suspended production cuts at its SanCiprian smelter in Spain
Alcoa will halt production cuts at its SanCiprian aluminium smelter in Spain after the High Court in Galicia invalidated the collective dismissals.
Workers' representatives filed the suit after the company announced in October that it would cut 228,000 tonnes of annual capacity at the smelter and continue to lay off workers after four months of negotiations.
As a result of the related strikes at SanCiprian aluminum smelter and alumina refinery, pre-tax earnings for the fourth quarter will be negatively impacted by approximately $10 million.
Alcoa said the SanCiprian smelter still needed to be restructured because of major and permanent structural problems.
Trafigura has announced the end of the Congo manual cobalt normalization project
The commodities trader Trafigura has announced plans to end its manual cobalt regularization project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The project was run by Trafigura in collaboration with mining companies Chemaf and NGO PACT for nearly two years.
Part of the reason, Trafigura said, was that country law now stipulates that all hand-produced Cobalt must be sold through Entreprise Generale du Cobalt(EGC), the state-owned Cobalt company.
