China

Metro Mining is speeding through 2018 with a series of success – its Bauxite Hills mine has seen a strong first quarter of production, ramping up to realising a targeted production of 2 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) in 2018 with two more offtake agreements.

Northern Minerals has officially opened the Browns Range heavy rare earths pilot plant project in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Mineral Resources (MinRes) has entered a farm-in and joint venture (JV) agreement with Hong Kong-based Brockman Mining to acquire 50 per cent of the Marillana iron ore project in the Pilbara, Western Australia.

Fortescue Metals Group has set a new record for iron ore shipments of 46.5 million tonnes (Mt) in the June quarter, a 20 per cent increase that brought it to its full-year shipment target of 170Mt.

Whitehaven Coal is well placed to deliver record fiscal performance in the 2018 financial year as thermal coal prices have reached seven-year highs.

Nautilus Minerals has announced that a shipbuilding contract between contractor Marine Assets Corporation (MAC) and shipyard Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding has been rescinded.

Metro Mining’s equity raising effort has led to an oversubscribed institutional placement, increasing its initial equity raising ambitions of $15 million up to $17.5 million.

Rio Tinto’s iron ore business is committed to developing its world-class automation and fully integrated system as Chinese appetite for the miner’s premium iron ore product, the Pilbara Blend, continues to pick up.

Altura has announced that the first shipment from its 100 per cent-owned Altura lithium project in Pilgangoora, Western Australia, will be announced in the coming weeks.

The amount of mining fatalities among 28 of the world’s 40 largest miners which disclosed their safety statistics has reduced by 37 per cent.

Rio Tinto has formalised a joint venture with Minmetals to explore for mineral deposits in China, and later globally.

US-based private equity firm Lone Star plans to acquire Sino Gas & Energy Holdings for $530 million, an offer backed by the ASX-listed target.

The graphite industry is on an upward trend with increasing prices and rising demand, underpinned by the rapid uptake of lithium-ion batteries, according to Roskill.

China’s Tianqi Lithium has agreed to buy around a quarter of Chilean lithium company, SQM, for $US4.07 billion ($5.42 billion).

The World Gold Council (WGC) has released an essay collection called Gold 2048, which claims that due to an expanding middle class contingent in countries like China and India, demand for gold will rise.

MMG’s Dugald River zinc mine in Queensland has achieved commercial production. The Chinese controlled, ASX-listed company reported this week that commercial production started on May 1.

Global gold demand has dropped 7 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 due to weaker investment, according to the latest trends report from the World Gold Council (WGC).

Fortescue Metals Group has exported its one billionth tonne of iron ore from the Pilbara in Western Australia, a decade after the company’s first commercial shipment from Port Hedland.

Australian gold company ABC Refinery, which produces ABC Bullion products, has received accreditation from the prestigious Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), the body through which all official export gold sales to China must be processed.

Australian gold output reached its highest mark since 1999 last year, maintaining the country’s place as the world’s second largest producer behind China, the latest data from Surbiton Associates has revealed.