Workers at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold's Grasberg mine in Indonesia plan to stage a strike in coming days after talks with the company failed to resolve a pay dispute , a move that could tighten global copper supplies and lift prices.
Gold prices arrested this week's slide on Friday to rise nearly 1 percent ahead of a speech from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later, which will be closely watched for hints on the outlook for Fed monetary policy.
Spot gold was steady on Friday, but was likely to register its first weekly drop after seven straight weeks of gains as investors awaited a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke later in the day.
Copper climbed on Thursday underpinned by expectations of returning demand from top consumer China, but caution over measures that may be unveiled by the U.S. monetary authorities in yoming this week kept gains in check.
Commodities trader Glencore International posted a 50 percent rise in headline first-half profit and said it saw opportunities emerging from turbulence in its key markets as commodity demand remains strong.
Harmony Gold may be undervalued but the world's fifth largest gold producer was not vulnerable to a take-over bid, Chief Executive Officer Graham Briggs said.
The deadline for pay talks between Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold and its Indonesian workers has been extended until the end of this week, with little progress made so far, a union official told Reuters on Wednesday.
South Africa's Harmony Gold Mining Co , the world's fifth-largest gold producer, said on Wednesday output for its 2012 financial year should rise to between 1.45 million ounces and 1.55 million from around 1.3 million in 2011.
Oil prices rose on Tuesday, boosted by better-than-expected manufacturing data in Germany and China and by uncertainty in Libya where government loyalists staged a fight back.
World stocks, the euro and commodity prices advanced on Tuesday after gauges of Chinese and German manufacturing activity were not as weak as some had feared.
The CEO of Harmony Gold, the world's fifth largest gold producer, said reported plans to shift mineral ownership in Papua New Guinea to local communities from the state would complicate negotiations but nationalisation was not being discussed.
Due to global warming, plant and animal species are shifting their natural habitats towards the north at a faster rate, reveals a survey of over 2,000 species.
It's all junk -- until it's not.
Copper steadied on Friday, pausing for breath after the previous session's hefty falls, although growing concerns about a slowdown in the United States and a debt crisis in Europe weighed on sentiment and capped further gains for the metal.
Plant and animal species have reacted to global warming by moving towards the north, away from the equator at a faster rate to avoid Earth's rising temperature, reveals a survey of nearly 1,400 species.
Gold rallied to its second record high in a week on Thursday, driven by growing investor unease over the outlook for the U.S. economy after data showed an unwelcome pickup in inflation, and over the lack of resolution to the European debt crisis.
Gold rallied back toward record highs above $1,800 an ounce on Thursday, driven by unease over the lack of a solution to the European debt crisis and sluggish growth in the developed world which has shaken investor confidence in stocks, bonds and hard currencies.
Toronto's main stock index jumped more than 1 percent on Wednesday morning as rising commodity prices and healthy U.S. earnings pushed euro zone fears to the background and boosted risk appetite.
Peru's mining firms have agreed to pay higher royalties in an overhaul of the current system, sources on both sides of negotiations between companies and leftist President Ollanta Humala's government said on Tuesday.
South Africa's rand fell as much as 1.9 percent against the dollar on Tuesday, weighed down by a weak growth outlook for the country's main trading partner bloc and showing the worst performance among its emerging market peers.
Premarket trading of gold and silver mining companies were mixed Tuesday in a tight range as stock index futures pointed to a lower open and commodities like crude oil and copper were down.
Yukon Nevada Gold Corp said its quarterly profit rose five-fold due to higher production and a gain on warrants, and it expects to achieve production run rate of 150,000 ounces by end of 2011.
