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A $440-million post-tax impairment charge will be booked by Xstrata Plc for the Araguaia nickel project in Brazil, which it deferred during the global financial crisis. Xstrata acquired Araguaia when it bought Falconbridge Ltd. in 2006. It spent about $50 million on the project until development was halted. Xstrata has assigned higher priority to other nickel projects, including Koniambo in New Caledonia, Kabanga in Tanzania and the 50-percent capacity restart at Falcondo in the Dominican Republic. Xstrata noted that Araguaia—containing 105 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources grading 1.33-percent nickel and an additional 18 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 1.3-percent nickel—remains one of its longer-term options for growth.
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China will lead a recovery in ferrochrome demand through 2013, according to Peet Nienaber, chief executive officer of Xstrata Alloys. China has witnessed extraordinary demand growth over the past decade and the country will remain heavily reliant on ferrochrome imports over the next three years as consumption grows, Nienaber told investors in London. The country has used about 3.5 million tonnes of ferrochrome this year, while domestic production has totaled around 2 million tonnes, according to Xstrata. The country is expected to produce about 2.5 million tonnes in 2013, but consumption is forecast to jump to more than 4.75 million tonnes. “Global ferrochrome demand will be underpinned by growth in China . . . led by increasing consumer durables production and a recovery in consumer confidence,” Nienaber told investors. Xstrata’s ferrochrome production will continue to benefit from cost savings generated through power supply innovation in South Africa, he added.
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Striking workers at Chile’s Cia. Minera Dona Ines de SCM Collahuasi (Collahuasi) copper mine are preparing to return to work after accepting the company’s wage offer late Monday.
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Striking workers at Chile’s Cia. Minera Dona Ines de SCM Collahuasi (Collahuasi) copper mine are preparing to return to work after accepting the company’s wage offer late Monday.
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ZincOx Resources Plc has signed a 50-year lease for the site of its planned recycling plant in South Korea.
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Century Aluminum Co. plans to restart an idled potline at its Hawesville, Ky., smelter during the first quarter, increasing capacity by 4,370 tonnes per month.
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Suggestions that Xstrata Plc will pursue a merger with main shareholder Glencore International AG are just conjecture, according to Mick Davis, the company’s chief executive officer.
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The potline was shut in March 2009 due to high costs and depressed aluminum prices. The five potlines at the smelter have a total capacity of about 250,000 tonnes per year.
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Striking workers at Chile’s Cia. Minera Dona Ines de SCM Collahuasi (Collahuasi) copper mine are preparing to return to work after accepting the company’s wage offer late Monday.
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Novelis Inc. will shut its 60,000-tonne-per-year, loss-making primary aluminum smelter in Aratu, Brazil, by Dec. 31 due to high operating costs and a lack of competitively priced energy supply.
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Novelis Inc. will shut its 60,000-tonne-per-year, loss-making primary aluminum smelter in Aratu, Brazil, by Dec. 31 due to high operating costs and a lack of competitively priced energy supply.
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Quanex Building Products Corp. provided a sobering forecast for 2011, saying that sales and operating earnings will decline next year because of the expiration of temporary government incentives for the housing market.
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Labor talks at Chile’s strike-hit Cia. Minera Dona Ines de Collahuasi SCM (Collahuasi) copper mine continue after management and unions failed to reach an agreement over the weekend.
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Rio Tinto has strengthened its China links on two fronts, agreeing to explore for minerals in China with Aluminum Corp. of China (Chinalco) and extending an iron ore joint venture with Sinosteel Corp.
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The WikiLeaks Web site has named a number of metals mines and facilities outside of the United States that are key to U.S. interests, as it published the list of sites that have been placed under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security.
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Mark Trevisol has resigned as president and chief executive officer of Canadian junior miner Crowflight Minerals Inc. effective immediately, the company said, adding that Kevin Zhu has been named as his replacement.
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The large position holder in copper is not squeezing the market, the London Metal Exchange said, pointing to the fact that nearby dates are trading in a contango.
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Primary aluminum producer Ormet Corp. is renegotiating a deal to buy a carbon anode facility in Mead, Wash., after terminating the original agreement.
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“Nobody’s buying anything they don’t need right now,” a Midwestern service center manager told AMM. “People are holding pretty short inventories. (They) are just looking to keep things cleaned up,” he said.
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Quanex Building Products Corp. provided a sobering forecast for 2011, saying that sales and operating earnings will decline next year because of the expiration of temporary government incentives for the housing market.
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Mark Trevisol has resigned as president and chief executive officer of Canadian junior miner Crowflight Minerals Inc. effective immediately, the company said, adding that current director Kevin Zhu has been named as his replacement.
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Labor talks at Chile’s strike-hit Cia. Minera Dona Ines de Collahuasi SCM (Collahuasi) copper mine continue after management and unions failed to reach an agreement over the weekend.
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Antofagasta Minerals SA has submitted the environmental impact study for its Antucoya copper project to Chilean authorities.
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Antimony miner Raptor Ventures LLC Inc. sold its first 300 tonnes of raw ore output to an undisclosed Chinese company, the first in what could be a series of transactions with the Asian buyer.