De Beers saw diamond sales shrink in 2001
De Beers saw its profits halved in 2001 as the global economic downturn took its toll on rough diamond sales.The major’s core business is the mining and marketing of rough gem diamonds. Hampered by th…
BHP Billiton Canada Inc
BHP Billiton knocks down Tower
BHP Billiton (BHP-N) is closing the Tower coal mine in New South Wales, Australia, as part of an ongoing effort to cut costsTower is one of four underground mines that constitute the Illawarra operati…
Newmont rises to the top
The volume leader among all the miners during the report period was Newmont Mining, which finally won control of both Normandy Mining and Franco-Nevada Mining, making it the the world’s largest gold m…
Low macro results won’t dissuade Ashton
A small surface sample of kimberlite float and outcrop collected by Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-T) from the promising Artemisia kimberlite pipe discovered last fall on the Kim property in Nunavut has…
Ivanhoe now owns Mongolian project
Robert Friedland’s Ivanhoe Mines (IVN-T) has assumed 100% ownership of the Turquoise Hill copper-gold project in southern Mongolia after completing its earn-in obligations by spending US$3 million on …
Mining operations keep Inmet profitable
Buoyed by operating earnings from all three of its mines, Inmet Mining (IMN-T) closed the year with a net profit of $18.9 million (44 per share) on revenue of $106.8 million.The figure was a substant…
Minotaur steps out at Olympic Dam-style prospect
The geology and geochemistry of Minotaur Resources’ discovery hole at a large gravity anomaly in the Mt. Woods area of South Australia suggests Olympic Dam-style mineralization and the makings of a po…
Orvana resumes Don Mario development
Two years after being forced to shelve it, Orvana Minerals (ORV-T) has raised enough funds to advance its small but high-grade Don Mario gold-silver deposit.In the heyday of 1996, Orvana added the Bol…
Falconbridge ends 2001 on sour note
Weak metal markets kept Falconbridge (FL-T) firmly in the red during the final three months of 2001, but not deep enough to erase profits made earlier in the year.Falconbridge squeaked by last year wi…
Phelps Dodge bleeds red
The world’s second-biggest copper producer, U.S.-based Phelps Dodge, was the newsmaker of the week as it posted a US$275-million loss in 2001 on revenue of US$4 billion, compared with US$29 million ea…
Mongolian copper-gold find returns hot intercept
The latest drill results from the Turquoise Ridge copper-gold porphyry discovery in southern Mongolia show that the Southwest Oyu zone has high grades and considerable size potential, prompting Ivanho…
Mixed week in US trading
In the face of declining base and precious metals, a number of U.S.-listed mining majors still managed to trade higher over the report period, as investors showed interest in old-economy cyclicals.BHP…