Copper prices jumped the most in three weeks on speculation that demand will rise in China

Copper prices jumped the most in three weeks on speculation that demand will rise in China, the world’s largest user of the metal.

China’s economy will improve in this year’s 4 trillion yuan ($ 585 billion) stimulus spending comes into force, government officials said today. Countries copper purchases in the “long way to go,” said Scotia Capital Inc.. Prices rose 7.4 percent last week on speculation government spending in the U.S. and China will revive the world economy and raise the consumption of metals.

“Commodities are bouncing with copper, in particular,” after the comments of Chinese officials, Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak and to New York, said in an e-mail note today. “This means that China will do and spend every effort” to increase its economy, Boockvar said.

Copper futures for May delivery rose 7.6 cents, or 5 percent, to $ 1592 per pound at 9:10 am on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the COMEX Division. Close to that price will be the biggest benefits for most active contract since Feb. 6.

At the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months rose $ 140, or 4.1 percent, to $ 3525 metric tons ($ 1.60 per pound). The price reached a record $ 8940 on 2 July.

(worldminingexplorationnews.com)

Syria continues to supply Gulfsands Petroleum as the company sees reason for cautious optimism in Iraq

Evidence in the name when it comes to Gulfsands Petroleum. “Bay” because AIM quoted company produces about 2000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the U.S. in the Gulf of Mexico (where, as now, its facilities are not suffering associated with hurricane damage, reducing production to 950 boepd) and “Sand” because the company is also engaged in the Middle East. “Oil” speaks for itself. Increasingly, however, the company is more than “sand” than “the Gulf” as its business in the Middle East, the eclipse of the hurricane alley in the U.S. real estate.

Gulfsands building block of success in the Middle East is a block 26 in Syria, where he is acting on behalf of 50/50 partner Emerald Energy. Its investment here was acquitted in 2007, four years after his debut in a country where Khurbet East oil field was discovered. Fields came onstream in July 2008 with the help of an early production and is currently producing some 11,500 barrels per day from five wells have already delivered more than one million barrels over the past five months. Field efficiency of management ahead of expectations, and reserves the re-evaluation, due at the end of the business district is expected to provide further confirmation of the quality of the reservoir. Development and continue with the company this week to complete the He-7 well-planned water so that encountered good oil shows, and appears to have expanded the northern limit of the area.

In the back of last year’s second discovery was made on 26 blocks Yousefieh-1 well, which is only 3 km away from the Khurbet East early production facility. It also found 63 meters of net oil pay in the target Cretaceous reservoirs and flowed 900 barrels per day of natural flow and 1450 barrels per day by using gas. High-quality reservoir and the proximity to the East Khurbet objects meant Yousefieh is a candidate for a statement on the beginning of the commercial and similar rapid development.

And it may well be more coming to the conclusion that caliber to come. 640 sq km 3D seismic survey is under way over the areas around Khurbet East and Yousefieh discoveries. The data is expected to be ready for analysis in Q3 2009, will identify the leaders have already identified and to provide more detailed information on the new stratigraphic play that has been identified Yousefieh well.

However, Syria has not Gulfsands “only interested in the Middle East. The company has long been opportunities in the eastern neighbor, Iraq, where there are abundant reserves, which will be developed for those players with the contacts, resources and courage to deal with this kind of investment in high-risk (political, rather than geological) investment profile. In the company well in its interims, the pace and content of their talks with the Iraqi Government for the long-discussed Maysan gas project - the company made its debut in Iraq in 2003 after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the signing of a Memorandum of Maysan in 2005 year - to have “substantially increased” due to the currently “cautious optimism”.

December 2008 presentation clear how important the successful conclusion of these negotiations would be for the company’s future growth prospects. Maysan Project, for example, that a seizure of gas erupted in southern Iraq and its use and associated liquids to the local power and fuel needs, a large numbers: in 2005 the company was talking about $ 900 million investment to create 150 million cubic feet per day of gas capacity, 150 MW power plant, a tie with nine stations and a degassing station. And this is just Phase 1 of the four possible phase of the project.

Gulfsands also eying other opportunities in the country, including decisions by the oil-field development projects. There are 73 discovered fields in the country, of which 64 are oil fields. Of these, ten are supergiants (more than five billion barrels), 12 giants (one to five billion barrels) and nine very large fields (from 500 million to one billion barrels). Nevertheless, only 23 of these fields is the production: it means that about two-thirds of the country discovered fields lying dormant, providing a lot of development of investment opportunities to increase production. Gulfsands expects to play a role in the release of these inactive reserves, but, as readers will know, that will depend on political and security situation that still troubled country. Currently, at least, Syria remains the foundation of the company in the Middle East ambitions.

(worldminingexplorationnews.com)

Looks good Mincor Set To Ride Out current low price of nickel

It is terribly difficult to get excited about a nickel mining company, at a time when the metal itself is in the doghouse. With Mincor, however, it is not possible to make an exception. Not because Australia has a minor surprise in his favor the back pocket, or even because he is made a discovery. It is more than Mincor sticks to its knitting in this slowdown, and do them well. The costs have been reduced, but not to injure the heart of business: cash is carefully husbanded, ready for exploration, but not stop, possible acquisitions analysis, but without its any need to rush things. In other words, Mincor longer and settings for the inevitable recovery in demand and nickel in the nickel price, when it will be a major mining sector winners.

“We have warned the market that we do not make a profit in this half,” David Moore, Mincor CEO, said during a chat with the man in minesite Oz, which took place earlier this week . It is a statement that he almost wished to make - as if companies focusing on how the conditions are difficult. “The key to everything we do is to manage the decline so that we are well positioned when conditions improve. Key elements of our strategy are to protect operating margins and protecting our balance sheet. We have set a goal to expand our resource base so that we can raise the production of the next upswing, to re-establish the basic price. ”

After a serious decline in the company’s share price during 2008, investors are beginning to understand the plan Moore. Since the share reached a low of 12 months A45.5 cents in late November, they were on the way back. Last week, the brand hit the A $ 1.00, before falling back to around A76 cents, a price that values the company at a lazy A $ 151 million, half of which can be represented simply by money in the bank account of Mincor. The other half of the value is represented by some of the best deposits of nickel, since they are located around the Kambalda Dome in the center of Western Australia. These are the same people who once mines Western Mining Corporation has made a name in mining.

Over the past eight years, and if you care to go back that far, remember the conditions very similar to those prevailing at present, Mincor has carefully assembled a portfolio of assets that extends around the ‘Kambalda Dome. For the record, the Kambalda Dome is a geological structure, surrounded by ancient volcanic lava channels containing nickel in high quality. And plans to produce a series of mine was moving towards a stable of 20,000 tons of metal a year before the global financial crisis struck. The current plan is to produce between 16,000 and 19,000 tonnes of metal per year. The decline was largely achieved by mothballing the Miitel mine, for the development of a new plan of mine, and mine more carefully at other mines.

The most important result of the cut to fit Mincor tougher times is that all transactions are cash positive, even if they are not profitable in a strict accounting. The cash cost per pound of nickel has been reduced to around U.S. $ 2.80, which, at current metal prices means that the company is still generating positive cash flows between A $ 2 million and 5 million dollars per month. “There is no denying how the conditions were difficult,” says Moore. “But we were also able to maintain a very strong financial position in the depths of a slowdown, which means that we are exceptionally well placed to recover. Right now, we are in a very strong position.”

Moore said that the beginning of January increased the price of nickel, when it rose to over U.S. $ 5.80 a pound, not aid, while the last retreat at U.S. $ 4.62 per pound will hurt. However, offsetting the decline in prices in U.S. dollars has been a corresponding decline in the value of the Australian dollar. In local currency, which fell to about US65 cents, Mincor is still getting more than U.S. $ 7.00 per pound. Help more modest hedging program, which covers about 15 percent of production, and has a positive value of nearly U.S. $ 40 million.

One of the best ways to look at is Mincor not consider the operations it has in production, but a mine that was shelved. Miitel was closed for the best reasons to allow the company to step back and look more closely at how best to expand the wealth of resources there. “Miitel has many good years ahead of him,” says Moore. “When nickel prices have fallen, we found that we could continue mining operations to a line of cash, but not at a profit.” But with the mine crew of the track, Mincor is now able to better analyze a discovery called Burnett Shoot which revealed high-quality tests to 13.15% nickel. The discovery is among the largest in several years.

Moore said that when nickel fell as low as U.S. $ 4.20 per pound in early December, each nickel miner in the world is under pressure. “But even at that price, our business is still cash flow positive. That’s good, but not really where you want, when you think from all the other things you want to do and maintain reserves “. He added: “We will fairly comfortable, but it would be nice to see a return to U.S. $ 8.00 per pound, because that’s when the game starts. At U.S. $ 10.00, you can have fun. ”

Exploration is critical to the functioning of the complex geology type of mine in the Kambalda region, continues, “says Moore. “We’ve cut back on the early generative work,” he says. “The key to the expansion of resources and the conversion of resources into reserves is continuing.”

If the geology is under control, the financial structure of Mincor is even more impressive. The company has a large cash generated during the explosion, a caution, covered the production, and costs to adapt to the borders of nickel prices. But more important that these assets is the philosophy of managing daily operations. “Our mind is not to use our cash reserves to fund existing operations,” says Moore. “That’s why we Miitel cocoon. We will not work the mines that are not cash flow positive at the very least. ”

As options for future growth, Moore sees a multitude of possibilities in the company of all the land around Kambalda as well as potential acquisitions. “We are interested in seeing what the possibilities are launched in this market,” he said. “We get a lot of knocks on the door for future promotions.” Are they attractive strikes? Minesite request. “For more attractive,” says Moore.

(worldminingexplorationnews.com)

Azumah acquisition Crew Gold in Ghana to take it to the Ground Million Ounce Mark

There shouldn’t be any need to call for the help of contestants from the controversial quiz show University Challenge to get the answer to the following simple test of arithmetical skills, though the implications of the answer might be lost on that brainy crew. What is the sum of 754,300 and 300,000?
If you said: “just over one million”, you’re spot on, and if you’re a follower of gold exploration in Africa you might even recollect that that magic million is the number of ounces that many companies believe is needed for the development of a new gold mine. One of those, a company that’s been flying below the radar of many investors, is Azumah Resources, an Australian-based company with its best assets in the north-west corner of Ghana.

Early on Tuesday 3rd March Azumah moved itself up to within spitting distance of the one million ounce mark, not that the company can actually say so, without getting a whack over the knuckles from assorted corporate watchdogs. But Minesite’s Man in Oz is not obliged to stick to the strict reporting rules of the ASX, ASIC, JORC, or any other organisation with a name constructed from a bowl of alphabet soup. That’s why he feels free to toss the numbers up into the air in a way that no-one else is doing, following Azumah’s acquisition of a large tract of ground adjoining its flagship Wa-Lawra project, up along Ghana’s border with Burkina Faso.

The acquisition of this property, from Canadian-listed Crew Gold, gives Azumah access to a number of prospects which lie about 75 kilometres east of Wa-Lawra. Despite some excellent drill hits, Crew has not taken its discovery through to a resource or reserve calculation stage, distracted as it’s been with other projects and a recent change of management. But the best of Crew’s gold assays include 11 metres at 8.47 grams a tonne and 10 metres at an eye-popping 40.61 grams a tonne. Drilling of the quartz reef structures has only gone down 60 metres, so more work is required.

However, this is where Minesite’s Man decided to defy the regulators and do a bit of his own fossicking in the numbers. The first piece of evidence came from taking a close look at Azumah’s exploration efforts over a cuppa with the company’s executive chairman, Stephen Stone. This, on a rather windy day, at the Brew-Ha coffee shop in the Perth suburb of Subiaco. It was there that Stephen confirmed that work at Wa-Lawra has delineated a JORC-Code compliant resource, so far, of 754,300 ounces. That’s good, but not quite what’s conventionally required to allow him to run down the street shouting “Eureka!” But, says, Stephen, “our target is a million ounces, and right now I’d say we’re a little more than half-way there. The million ounces should be sufficient to design a mine with a 10-year life producing 100,000 ounces a year”.

Now comes Crew, and while Crew hasn’t done all the work requisite to put hard numbers on their portion of the resource, it has chosen 300,000 ounces of gold as one of the trigger points that will allow it to get a bit extra out of the sale. Thus, the terms of the purchase by Azumah of Crew’s three prospecting licences include the issue of six million shares, which amounts to 6.15 per cent of Azumah’s expanded capital, and the further issue of another six million shares if within two years a JORC compliant 300,000 ounces of gold are delineated between the surface and 100 metres.

It might be sheer coincidence that 300,000 ounces is the trigger number at which Crew is issued more Azumah shares, but Minesite’s Man doesn’t think so. He reckons that both sides of the deal know that Crew is onto something interesting, but that whatever it is, it would be better explored and developed by one owner with a large gold holding rather than multiple owners with smaller interests.

However, Stephen himself is ultra-cautious when discussing what he expected from the newly acquired package of tenements. “We are optimistic that the new ground will in the near term deliver a significant, low-cost increase in gold resources to complement the existing 754,000 ounces at Wa-Lawra”, he says. “This is arguably the most important strategic ground acquisition Azumah could have made in Ghana, considerably strengthening the company’s already dominant position in the emerging north-west Ghana gold region.”

On the market, investors have been slowly re-discovering Azumah, a company which has sometimes struggled to develop traction, partly because of events beyond its control and partly as a result of self-inflicted wounds. Over the past three months Azumah has more than doubled its share price, up from a lowly A4 cents in December when the financial world was in melt-down mode to as high as A8.3 cents this week, a price which capitalises the company on the market at an untaxing A$7.7 million.

The next step for Azumah is more of the same: more drilling and more field work in both directions along a line of strike from the Kunche and Bepkong discovery zones which contain most of the resource ounces outlined so far. Bepkong in particular is shaping up as the discovery which could transform Azumah from explorer to producer. It lies just two kilometres north of Kunche, and was taken from discovery, with no surface outcrop, to first resource in nine months.

“What we have to do is more old-fashioned, back-to-basics field work to find more gold,” Stephen says. “It’s becoming fairly obvious that the Wa-Lawra area has a rich gold endowment, and while it’s in the north of Ghana that could turn out to be a blessing because most of the action in the country, so far, has been in the south. By focusing on the north we’ve been able to assemble a large tenement package and quietly get on with the job of exploring what could become a significant discovery. There has been very little drilling outside the Kunche-Bepkong area but we have made extremely interesting discoveries at Basabli, Kuo and Kunche east.”

Good as the work Azumah has done on its own has been, the Crew deal could turn out to be the icing on the cake. Even if there is not yet a resource attached to the ground being acquired it seems highly likely that someone at Crew has “joined the dots” from limited drilling to arrive at a “back of the envelope” estimate which entails at least 300,000 ounces of gold. And that’s a number which represents much more to Azumah than it does to Crew.

(worldminingexplorationnews)

Oil prices slip further below $ 40

The price of oil fell again in morning trade on Tuesday. Light sweet crude oil for February delivery rose to $ 39.33, down 58 cents on the session. Prices reached as high as $ 40.65 before the associative lower.

Traders looked ahead to Wednesday’s Energy Information weekly inventories report. Experts looking around to see a build of 1 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 19. Last week, data showed U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased 500,000 barrels from the previous week. At 321.3 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are near the limit of the average range for this time year.

Oil plunged below $ 40 on Monday amid concern demand continuously, losing $ 2.45 on the session. Monday is the first day of February as the front-month contact.

Traders shook off comments from Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, who said that during the weekend that the cartel remains committed to the First fall in the price of crude oil. Last week, OPEC said it will cut the production target by 2.2 million barrels per day, came in-line with analyst expectations.

Gasoline prices inched lower on Tuesday, according to AAA. A regular gallon of oil slipped to $ 1,659, compared with $ 2,974 a year ago at this time. Gas prices hit a record $ 4.114 in July.

The economic front, a Commerce Department report showed that the GDP declined at an average of 0.5 percent in the third quarter, unrevised from the estimate given in November. Economists had expected the rate of contraction that will be unrevised.

Traders forward to see that there is a button on the home sales report later this morning. Meanwhile, economists expect the number to edge down to an average of 4.93 million in November from 4.98 million rate in October, new home sales are expected to fall to an average of 420,000 in November from the level of 433,000 in the previous month.

(worldminingexplorationnews.com)

Mining group Xstrata shareholders approved a $ 5.9bn rights issue on Monday

Mining group Xstrata shareholders approved a $ 5.9bn rights issue on Monday that the company could repay the debt, but also voted for the acquisition of a coal mine in Colombia.

Xstrata, the world fifth largest diversified mining group by market value, has announced plans to release the highly discounted new shares at 29 January, which will triple its shares in circulation.

An extraordinary general meeting in Switzerland, Xstrata has agreed to release the 1.96 billion new shares at 210 pence share, said in a statement.

The price of a 66% discount on the closing stock price on the day before the initial announcement.

Xstrata shares fell 8% to 640 pence at midday, compared to 5% decline in the UK mining index.

Shares will be “ex-rights on Tuesday and the theoretical ex-rights price is 348 pence, Xstrata said.
The meeting also gave approval for the $ 2 billion purchase Prodeco coal mine in Colombia, with Xstrata’s largest shareholder, Swiss commodities trader Glencore.

Some shareholders expressed dissatisfaction with the Prodeco the transaction, which was organized in such a way that Glencore could use the assets instead of cash to participate in the mobilization of resources and the preservation of 35% of the shares.

The resolution was approved on Prodeco 80% of the voting shares, and three other resolutions on the rights issue received 95% approval.

Xstrata and Glencore could not agree on a price for Xstrata Prodeco so the opportunity to Glencore would allow it to redeem minutes a year later.

After the fund-raising, Xstrata net debt was due to fall $ 12.6bn from $ 16.3bn at the end of 2008, while the channel will decrease to less than 30% of 40%.

The issue of human rights is fully guaranteed by Glencore and the investment banks Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.

(worldminingexplorationnews)

Great Basin Gold Ltd. Announces Pricing of C$130 Million Equity Offering

Wed Mar 4, 2009 (REUTER)

VANCOUVER, March 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Great Basin Gold Ltd. (the
"Company") (TSX: GBG; NYSE Alternext: GBG; JSE: GBG) announces that it has
priced an offering of 100,000,000 units at a price of C$1.30 per unit
resulting in gross proceeds of C$130,000,000.

Each unit is comprised of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each full warrant will entitle the holder to purchase a common share of the Company at a price of C$1.60 at any time before 5:00 p.m. (Vancouver time) on October 15,
2010. The Company has granted to the underwriters an over-allotment option,
exercisable for a period of 30 days following closing of the offering, to purchase up to an additional 15,000,000 common shares and/or 7,500,000 warrants to cover over-allotments and for market stabilization purposes, which if exercised would result in additional gross proceeds of C$19,500,000.
A syndicate led by BMO Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets acted as underwriters in connection with the offering.

The net proceeds from this offering will be used by the Company to fund the development of the Company's Burnstone project in South Africa and for general corporate purposes. The offering is expected to close on or about March 13, 2009 subject to customary closing conditions and final regulatory approvals.

Ferdi Dippenaar, President and CEO, commented: "This is an important financing
for Great Basin Gold, and we are pleased to note that this funding will be used in furtherance of achieving initial commercial production at the Burnstone Property, targeted for July 2010."

A preliminary short form prospectus relating to the offer of the units has been filed in all provinces and territories of Canada and a registration statement relating to the offer of the units has been filed with the U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S.-Canada multi-jurisdictional
disclosure system, but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the issuance of a receipt for the final short form prospectus from all applicable Canadian securities regulators and in the United States prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of
these securities in any state or province in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or province. No offer to buy the securities can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received until the registration statement has become effective and any such offer may be
withdrawn or revoked without obligation or commitment of any kind at any time
prior to the notice of its acceptance given after the effective date.

Copies of the final short form prospectus, when receipted, may be obtained from BMO Capital Markets, Distribution Department, 1 First Canadian Place, B2 Level, Toronto, Ontario, M5X 1H3 (tel: 416-363-6996 x224) or from RBC Capital Markets, Attention: Distribution Centre, 277 Front St. W., 5th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 2X4 (tel: 416-842-5349), and copies of the registration statement may be obtained from BMO Capital Markets Corp., Attention: Lori Begley, 3 Times Square, 27th Floor, New York, New York, 10036 (tel: 212-885-4039) or from RBC Capital Markets Corporation, Attention: Prospectus Department, Three World Financial Centre, 200 Vesey Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10281-8098 (tel: 212-428-6670).

Ferdi Dippenaar
President and CEO

No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information
contained in this news release.


This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address possible future commercial production, reserve potential, exploration drilling results, development, feasibility or exploitation activities and events or developments that Great Basin Gold
expects to occur are forward-looking statements.

Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from
those in the forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, geopolitical uncertainty, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions.

Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and those actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's annual Form 40-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE Great Basin Gold Ltd.

For additional details on Great Basin Gold Ltd. and its gold properties,
please visit the Company's website at www.grtbasin.com or contact Investor
Services: Tsholo Serunye in South Africa, +27 (0)11 301 1800; Michael Curlook
in North America, 1-888-633-9332; Barbara Cano at Breakstone Group in the USA,
(646) 452-2334

(http://www.infomine.com)

Rio still open to BHP iron merger, despite Chinalco

Matt Chambers | March 05, 2009

RIO Tinto is talking up the potential of a merger of its massive Pilbara iron ore operations with BHP Billiton's, driving speculation the combination could still be on the cards despite Rio's $US19.5 billion plans to bring in Chinalco.

Selling the Chinalco rescue deal to analysts, Rio chief executive Tom Albanese said synergies of an iron ore merger were never in question and that it had always been appealing.

"An iron ore joint venture with BHP is more workable than a corporate solution (such as a takeover)," Mr Albanese told analysts, according to a Deutsche Bank report.

While Mr Albanese made it clear a joint venture, or a takeover, would not be precluded by the deal with state-owned Chinalco, the talk is bound to fuel more speculation that an iron ore merger is a back-up plan if Treasurer Wayne Swan or shareholders block the rescue package.

It has also driven talk that Rio, which has said it will listen to alternative proposals to Chinalco's but not seek them out, may be open to any plans BHP has to spoil the China rescue package.

Rio's easier-expanded West Australian iron ore ports were at the centre of BHP's failed $135 billion bid last year.

The two were also in talks to merge iron ore operations in 1999, but those too fell through.

Due to Chinese concerns about iron ore consolidation, a combined Pilbara operation could become more difficult for BHP if Chinalco's bid to take an 18 per cent stake in Rio and a 15 per cent stake in the Hamersley iron ore operations are successful.

Mr Albanese said relations between the two big miners were cordial.

Earlier this week, he confirmed there had been some talks between the pair about asset sales since BHP walked away from hostile scrip bid in November.

Rio confirmed Mr Albanese's statements quoted by Deutsche, but stressed they were in answer to a specific question on an iron ore merger and were in the context of the Chinalco deal not precluding this, or a takeover.

BHP is barred from another tilt at Rio until November, unless the pair can agree on a merger at board level.

BHP would not comment on a potential iron ore tie-up, but it has been suggested the miner would be uneasy with the state-owned Chinalco having a stake in the assets, as opposed to just being on its register.

Rio, however, has been quick to dismiss any concerns China could influence pricing, or have access to sensitive information through Chinalco's two director appointees on the Rio board.

Mr Albanese has said this is not a concern because talk of price negotiations are fully contained within the iron ore negotiations.

There is also a conflict of interest committee, comprising the Rio chairman, chief executive officer and chief financial officer, that can exclude the Chinalco appointees from discussions if needed.

UBS analyst Glyn Lawcock, who was at the analysts' meeting, said there was no suggestion a deal was imminent and that any pairing up of the iron ore assets would still need to get around European regulators.

BHP pulled its bid partly because of the asset sales that would be required by the European Union in a depressed market, though the EU findings were not made public.

Merrill Lynch has said if the Chinalco deal falls through, one option for Rio would be to form an iron ore joint venture with BHP.

Separate marketing agreements to get around the EU.

"It would be interesting to see whether the EU accepts separately marketed products and joint sharing of infrastructure," Mr Lawcock said.

"But if it's just a joint sharing of infrastructure, you don't get as many synergies because you are still managing two big teams."

Mr Lawcock said while Rio's port infrastructure was definitely better, BHP had the advantage of bigger mining operations in more contained locations.

Mr Albanese was in Brisbane yesterday visiting corporate offices.

He plans to meet government representatives during his one-week stay in Australia to push the Chinalco deal.

BHP and Rio shares soared in early London trade last night, as copper rallied on optimism that Chinese metal consumption would increase and expectations that Premier Wen Jiabao would announce a new stimulus package.

BHP added 6 per cent to 1100 pence, while Rio gained 7.8 per cent to 1746p.

Earlier, Chinalco climbed by 9 per cent as the Shanghai Composite exchange rose 6.1 per cent.




Article from: The Australian

BHP, Fortescue lead Australian share market up 0.9pc

Allison Jackson | March 05, 2009

MINERS and energy producers pushed stocks higher today on hopes China will step up efforts to revive economic growth.

After big gains in US and European markets, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 29.9 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 3196.3 in the first 15 minutes of trading, snapping a four-day losing streak.

The All Ordinaries rose 29.3 points to 3155.2.

China is expected to announce another stimulus package at the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress starting in Beijing today.

Investors are betting the money will be poured into building new roads, bridges and other infrastructure and lead to increased demand for Australian iron ore, coal and other commodities.

BHP Billiton led the gains, rising 6.5 per cent to $28.89, while its smaller rivals Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group piled on 5.6 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.

Woodside Petroleum gained 2.3 per cent to $34.47 and Santos rose 2.1 per cent $14.78.

Gold miners took a big hit after the gold price fell as rising equity markets calmed anxious investors who had been seeking shelter in the precious metal.

Lihir Gold slumped 7.6 per cent to $3.06 and Newcrest lost 3 per cent to $30.46.

The gains came as the Australian Securities and Investment Commission extended its ban on short selling financial stocks until May 31, citing the volatility in global financial markets.

"In making its judgement to again extend the ban, ASIC weighed up the continued volatility in global financial markets and potential damage from aggressive or predatory practices from short selling against the possible loss of some market efficiency or price discovery," ASIC said.

Shares of investment bank Macquarie Group were up 0.8 per cent at $18.05.


Article from: The Australian

Alcoa to cut Canada smelter payroll cost by 15 pct

TORONTO, March 4 (Reuters) - Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc plans to chop payroll costs by 15 percent at its Canadian smelting operations in Quebec, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. Alcoa, which like the rest of the aluminum industry has been stung by a sharp drop in prices, will cut management salaries starting next month and plans to negotiate lower wages or fewer hours worked with unionized workers.

"The entire industry has been under a lot of strain," Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said. The cuts will apply at the company's head office in Montreal, at the Baie-Comeau, Becancour, and Deschambault smelters, and at the Becancour Rod Plant.

Together, the operations employ nearly 3,600 people and have annual output of more than one million tonnes of aluminum products. Alcoa's operations in Ontario and Alberta will not be affected, Lowery said. The company said in January it would cut more than 15,000 jobs, slash capital spending, and sell some business to reduce aluminum production in the face of declining demand.
The price of aluminum has dropped about 60 percent since peaking at $3,380 per tonne last July. Alcoa's shares, which hit a 52-week high of $44.76 on the New York Stock Exchange last May, were up 14.8 percent at $6.35 on Wednesday. (Reporting by Cameron French; editing by Janet Guttsman) Keywords: ALCOA/CANADA (cameron.french@thomsonreuters.com; 416-941-8199: Reuters Messaging: cameron.french.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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Purnomo: Investor Jangan Menilai Negatif UU Minerba

Menanggapi survai konsultan terkemuka asal AS, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) yang menyebutkan, UU Minerba memperparah iklim investasi pertambangan di Indonesia yang sudah terpuruk akibat krisis keuangan global Menteri Energi dan Sumberdaya Mineral (ESDM) Purnomo Yusgiantoro pada hari Jumat (27/02/09), langsung meminta para investor bidang pertambangan tidak terburu-buru menilai negatif keberadaan UU Minerba ( UU No.4 Tahun 2009 tentang Pertambangan Mineral dan Batubara).
"UU ini baru satu bulan, jangan terburu-buru diambil sikap negatif," katanya usai menghadiri peluncuran buku "Jalan Baru untuk Tambang: Mengalirkan Berkah bagi Anak Bangsa". Buku ini sendiri merupakan karya Simon Sembiring, mantan Dirjen Mineral, Batubara, dan Panas Bumi Departemen ESDM di Jakarta. Menurut Purnomo, investor mesti menunggu aturan pelaksanaan UU tersebut.

Sesuai peraturan perundang-undangan, aturan pelaksanaan lah yang memiliki ketersinggungan besar dengan kepentingan investor, begitu menurut beliau.

Ia mencontohkan, UU No 22 Tahun 2001 tentang Migas yang sampai sekarang menuai kritik, namun investasi dan industri tetap tumbuh.

"Sampai saat ini, sudah ada 107 wilayah kerja yang ditandatangani dan di antaranya sudah ada yang menemukan hidrokarbon," katanya.

Menteri juga mengatakan, survai PwC dilakukan pada perusahaan tambang, sehingga tentunya mewakili suara pengusaha yang artinya tentu lebih menyuarakan dari pihak perusahaan tambang yang merasa ketakuan dan pesimis dengan dikeluarkannya UU Minerba tsb.

Selain juga menurut beliau, UU adalah merupakan produk politik, sehingga pastinya tidak bisa sesuai dengan keinginan semua pihak.

Sementara Dirjen Mineral, Batubara, dan Panas Bumi Departemen ESDM Bambang Setiawan mengatakan, UU pertambangan yang baru sudah sesuai dengan situasi saat ini.

"Misalkan soal pembatasan wilayah. Hal itu dimungkinkan sebab sekarang ini sudah banyak informasi, sehingga tidak perlu luasan tambang yang besar," katanya.

Meski menilai UU Minerba akan memperburuk iklim investasi, namun PwC juga menyebutkan investor tambang mengharapkan pemerintah segera menerbitkan peraturan pelaksanaannya agar ada panduan yang jelas bagi pertumbuhan industri di masa mendatang.

Jika aturan pelaksanaan UU tersebut jelas, maka diperkirakan industri tambang akan kembali bangkit tahun depan.


(tambangnews)