Even if the Brazilian economy doesn’t grow in 2009, the steel market will “still be good,” Otavio Lazcano, finance director of Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (SID), said in a conference call Tuesday.
CSN expects to continue operating at full capacity until the end of this year, the company said in the conference call.
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Australian-based diamond company Elkedra Diamonds, which is listed on the AIM and Australian Stock Exchanges, has formally entered the ranks of international diamond producers after announcing the start of continuous 24 hour processing operations at its Chapada Diamond Project, in Brazil, and recovering its first diamonds.
Perth-based Elkedra said last week that it had recovered its first diamonds and the Chapada processing plant had been successfully commissioned at what is South America’s largest diamond mine. Read More…
LS Power Group (”LS Power”) today completed the acquisition of the Griffith Energy Facility (”Griffith”), a 600 megawatt, gas-fired, combined-cycle power plant in Mohave County, Arizona.
On May 4, LS Power purchased its initial 50 percent interest in Griffith from Duke Energy North America, along with eight other merchant power plants in four states for approximately $1.7 billion. Today, LS Power closed on its acquisition of the remaining 50 percent of Griffith from PPL Corporation for approximately $115 million (subject to certain adjustments). Read More…
Gold jumped 1,7 percent to trade above $600 an ounce on Friday as the dollar slipped after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates but hinted it might take a break from a two-year campaign of rate hikes.
Other precious metals also strengthened, with platinum hitting a three-week high and silver rising to its highest since June 13 to $10,83 an ounce.
Dealers said gold might establish a base around current levels, if it managed to avoid large selling ahead of a holiday in the United States next week and the end of the quarter. Read More…
Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC, has started electronic clearing services for the London bullion market.
Martyn Whitehead, head of precious metals sales, said on Friday that after becoming a clearing member late last year, Barclays developed the system to put on its electronic trading platform - BARX for Commodities Trading.
A clearing member acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers globally. It collects transactions, organises storage and streamlines the transfer of gold and silver.
Junior diamond producer Dwyka Diamonds has announced that it will fast-track its prospective Bosele exploration project, located 80 km north of Kimberley, through the issue of unsecured convertible loan notes to the value of £1-million, rather than wait to fund the programme from future operating cash flows.
According to CEO Adrian Griffin the funds may also be applied to further underground development work at both the Newlands and Blaauwboch diamond mines and for general working capital. Read More…
BP Shipping and BP’s Cooper River Chemical Plant, Charleston, SC — received William M. Benkert Awards for marine environmental performance during the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) Tanker Conference in San Diego, California.
The Benkert Award honors Rear Admiral William “Mike” Benkert, widely regarded as the father of the Coast Guard Marine Environmental Protection Program. BP Shipping was named in the Large Business Foreign Vessel category, while Cooper River was honored in the Large Business Facility category. Read More…
Africa’s mining and growth prospects are more promising now that it is pursuing a continental plan to improve political and economic management, the chairman of Anglo American Plc said on Thursday.
A peer review process underpinning the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), where countries voluntarily submit to evaluation by eminent Africans, should be a boon to improving the investment climate, Mark Moody-Stuart said. Read More…
In his award-winning standard book on the world history of oil, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, author Daniel Yergin describes the discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea as the “biggest play” so far in the history of petroleum and, from an energy-strategy viewpoint, a discovery that was more significant than the finds in the Middle East, South America and Alaska.
A comparison of this kind may appear somewhat dubious today, since there is no doubt at all that the world’s largest oil reserves are to be found in the areas around the Persian Gulf. These are the regions that will guarantee future supplies of this vital raw material. Read More…
The coal arm of diversified mining house Metorex, Wakefield Investments, has embarked on a number of local and continental growth initiatives that include the expansion of three of its four mining operations in South Africa and the exploration of coalfields in sub-Saharan Africa.
These activities come against the backdrop of a surge in the coal market owing to presently strong supply and demand fundamentals. Read More…
