The Mining Insider

Highland Valley Picket Lines Hold as Teck Runs at Reduced Capacity: First, British Columbia, where the strike at Teck's Highland Valley Copper mine is entering its third day. CBC News reports more than 1,200 unionized workers walked off the job on Saturday after contract talks failed, and that Teck said operations are continuing at reduced capacity. Greatland Reports 70,131 Ounces and A$1.3 Billio...

Highland Valley Copper Workers Strike as Teck Runs at Reduced Capacity: First, British Columbia, where workers at Teck's Highland Valley Copper mine went on strike on Saturday. Reuters reports Teck said the strike began after the expiry of a 72-hour notice from United Steelworkers Local 7619, and that the mine is operating at reduced capacity. Teck said, "The impact on overall production will depe...

Indonesia Reviews Five Copper-Gold Concessions Worth $426.7 Billion: First, Indonesia, where President Prabowo Subianto has ordered a review of five copper and gold mining concessions. Mining.com.au reports that in a speech on October 22 he put the in-ground value of the deposits at 5.4 quadrillion rupiah, or 426.7 billion U.S. dollars, and described them as "proven reserves." The article says the...

Rio Tinto Commits $1.9 Billion to Kangwinan Bauxite in Queensland: First, Queensland, where Rio Tinto has approved 1.9 billion U.S. dollars to develop the Kangwinan bauxite project on Western Cape York. The company says the total includes 150 million dollars of early works pre-approved in 2025, and that the project is expected to deliver an internal rate of return of about 22 percent, based on thi...

China's State Buyer Signs Rio Tinto While Fortescue Warns of Impact: First, iron ore. Reuters, citing people with knowledge of the matter, reports China Mineral Resources Group, the state-owned buyer known as CMRG, has agreed a new annual supply deal with Rio Tinto. CMRG verbally notified some steel mills on Wednesday without giving details, and was due to start collecting on Thursday the volumes...

Hudbay and Mitsubishi Approve Construction of Copper World in Arizona: First, Arizona, where Hudbay Minerals and Mitsubishi have approved a final investment decision for the Copper World copper project, about 50 kilometres southeast of Tucson. Hudbay owns 70 percent and Mitsubishi 30 percent. First production is targeted for the second half of 2029. Northern Star Keeps Guidance, Flags Possible Ass...

Anglo American Copper Output Falls 5% but 2026 Guidance Holds: First, Anglo American, which reported third-quarter production at 06:00 GMT on Tuesday. Copper output fell 5 percent to 174,900 tonnes, from 183,500 tonnes a year earlier, according to Reuters. Anglo blamed record snowfall in Chile and lower-grade stockpile ore at Collahuasi. For the first nine months, copper was down 1 percent at 519,...

New Hope and Malabar Agree a Binding All-Scrip Coal Merger: First, Australia, where two coal producers have signed a binding deal. In an ASX release dated October 19, New Hope Corporation and Malabar Resources said they entered a scheme implementation deed under which New Hope will acquire all the Malabar shares it does not already own. Copper Supply: South32 Holds Guidance, Freeport Leans on Leac...

Centinela Workers Ratify Deal at 94.49% and the Strike Ends: First, Chile, where the strike at Antofagasta's Centinela copper mine is over. Reuters reports workers from the two unions, Distrito Centinela and Minera Esperanza, ratified an agreement with Antofagasta Minerals on a new collective bargaining contract, and that the company confirmed the deal. A total of 94.49 percent of participating wo...

Centinela Unions Reach Preliminary Deal, Ending the Strike: First, Chile, where the strike at Antofagasta's Centinela copper mine looks set to end. Reuters reports workers from the two striking unions reached a preliminary agreement on a new collective contract late on Friday, ending a strike that had lasted more than a week. The Distrito Centinela and Minera Esperanza unions have more than 700 me...

Centinela Talks Stall as Three Workers Reach Day Seven of a Hunger Strike: First, Chile, where the strike at Antofagasta's Centinela copper mine has no deal. Reuters reports that talks on Thursday between Antofagasta Minerals and the two striking unions made no progress, and that three workers are on the seventh day of a hunger strike. The Distrito Centinela and Minera Esperanza unions represent m...

Escondida Supervisors Ratify a Three-Year Contract and the Strike Is Cancelled: First, Escondida, where the strike that markets had been pricing in has been cancelled. Shanghai Metals Market reports supervisors at the world's largest copper mine approved a new three-year contract with BHP on Wednesday, with about 64 percent of the vote. La Tercera reports the union's 1,020 members ratified the agr...

Escondida Reaches Preliminary Deal as a Strike Deadline Passes: First, Chile, where a strike at the world's largest copper mine was pulled back from the brink overnight. Reuters reports BHP and the supervisors' union at Escondida reached a preliminary agreement to avoid a strike, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. The union, which has 1,020 members, had said it would walk out...

Landslide Kills Two Workers and Partly Halts Codelco's El Teniente: First, Chile, where another fatal accident has hit the copper sector. Reuters reports Codelco partially suspended operations at El Teniente on Sunday after a landslide killed two workers and left one rescued, according to SERNAGEOMIN, the mining regulator. Shortly before 2 p.m. local time, the slide struck three workers employed b...

Lithium Carbonate Slides as EU Hybrid Curbs Dent Demand Hopes: First, lithium, which had a rough Monday in China. Shanghai Metals Market quoted spot battery-grade lithium carbonate at an average of 115,400 yuan a tonne, down 6,950 yuan, or about 5.7 percent, from the previous working day. The most-traded futures contract fell as much as nearly 11 percent, to an intraday low of 105,320 yuan, as pri...

Panama Quake Spares Cobre Panama as Restart Talks Loom: First, Panama, where the country's strongest earthquake in more than seven decades has left one of the world's biggest idled copper mines intact. The magnitude 7.7 quake struck Herrera Province on Friday, more than 120 miles southwest of the Panama Canal, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, as reported by The Edge. An early U.S.G.S. esti...

Copper Posts a Weekly Gain as Yangshan Premium Hits a Four-Year High: First, copper, which ended the week higher on supply risk and a returning Chinese buyer. Reuters reports London benchmark copper was up 1.6 percent at 14,541 dollars a tonne by 16:04 GMT Friday, on track for a 2.0 percent weekly gain. Bloomberg has the settlement at 14,540 dollars. Gold Rebounds From a Two-Month Low as Yields Re...

Unions Say Centinela Output Could Halve in November as Copper Premiums Climb: First, copper, where a strike in Chile is meeting a thin market. Reuters reports unions at Antofagasta's Centinela mine said Thursday that the full impact of their strike is expected in November, when production could decrease by half. They say early effects will worsen gradually because a large amount of waste rock has...

Centinela Strike Begins With 709 Workers as Escondida Mediation Runs: First, Chile. A legal strike began at 8 a.m. local time Wednesday at Antofagasta's Centinela copper mine after government mediation ended without a deal. The Rio Times reports 709 workers are out, from two unions: Minera Esperanza with 420 members and Distrito Centinela with 289. Members voted 98.73 percent for a strike in late...

Abu Dhabi's IRH Makes a Cash Approach for Kenmare Resources: First, a takeover approach in mineral sands. Kenmare Resources, the Dublin-based miner of titanium minerals, confirmed on Tuesday that it has received a non-binding proposal from International Resources Holdings, known as IRH, for a possible cash offer for all of its issued and to be issued shares. In its statement the board said it "not...

BHP Asks Chile to Mediate, Pausing an Escondida Strike That Could Have Started Today: First, Chile, where the strike clock at the world's largest copper mine has been reset. The Rio Times reports the supervisors' union at Escondida, Sindicato Number Two, said a strike would take effect today, October 6. On Monday, BHP asked Chile's labour inspectorate to mediate, which suspends the approved strike...

Brazil Heads to an October 25 Runoff, and Vale Jumps: First, Brazil, where yesterday's vote did not settle anything, but it moved markets. With 99.99% of sections counted, the Superior Electoral Court has Senator Flávio Bolsonaro at 47.03%, or 56.10 million votes, and President Lula da Silva at 45.16%, or 53.88 million. Neither passed 50%, so the two meet in a runoff on October 25. Polls had expec...

Freeport Says Grasberg Mill Is at 67% as the Block Cave Ramp-Up Holds: First, Indonesia. Freeport-McMoRan's third-quarter operating update, released Friday, says the Grasberg district mill averaged about 140,000 tonnes of ore per day in the quarter. That is roughly 67% of normal rates before the September 2025 mud rush that killed seven workers, according to The Northern Miner. The Block Cave unde...

China Wants Copper Supply Guarantees Before Clearing Anglo Teck: First, the Anglo Teck merger, and the last regulator standing. Reuters reports, citing three people aware of the discussions, that China's State Administration for Market Regulation has asked Anglo American to commit to a steady flow of copper concentrate into China as a condition of approving its proposed 54 billion dollar merger wi...

Lynas Pays A$968 Million in Scrip for Brazil's Caldeira Rare Earths: First, rare earths. Lynas Rare Earths, the world's largest producer outside China, has agreed to buy Meteoric Resources in an all-share deal valuing the Perth-based developer at 968 million Australian dollars, about 672 million U.S. dollars, according to Reuters. Under the scheme of arrangement, Meteoric holders receive 0.0207 ne...