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China offers development assistance but not everyone is happy about it. The people of Zimbabwe head to the polls today on July 30, 2018, to cast their votes in the first election after the abrupt end to the almost forty-year rule of Robert Mugabe, the country's only ruler since independence in 1980. The two major candidates to watch are Mugabe's former vice president and now leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) Emerson Mnangagwa, the replacement for the late opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the candidate for the Movement for Democratic Change—Tsvangirai (MDC-T), Nelson Chamisa. The drama that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Further evidence that times are tough: It now costs more than a penny to make a penny. And the cost of a nickel is more than 7 1/2 cents. Surging prices for copper, zinc and nickel have some in Congress trying to bring back the steel-made pennies of World War II, and maybe using steel for nickels, as well. Copper and nickel prices have tripled since 2003 and the price of zinc has quadrupled, said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., whose subcommittee oversees the U.S. Mint. Keeping the coin content means "contributing to our national debt by almost...

The discovery of one of the world's oldest shipwrecks shows that European trade was thriving even in the Bronze Age, according to experts. The vessel, carrying copper and tin ingots used to make weapons and jewellery, sank off the coast near Salcombe in Devon and is thought to date from 900BC. But it was only last year that the South West Maritime Archaeological Group, a team of amateur archaeologists, brought its cargo to the surface. The discovery was not announced until this month's International Shipwreck Conference, in Plymouth, Devon. It is thought that the goods - 259 copper ingots and...

Windmills use an enormous amount of copper. For example, a single wind turbine can contain 335 tons of steel, 4.7 tons of copper, 3 tons of aluminum and 700-plus pounds of rare earth minerals. ... In fact, wind and solar energy use more copper than conventional forms of energy, such as coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants. Conventional power plants require about one ton of copper to produced one megawatt of electricity, whereas wind and solar can require between three to five tons per megawatt. ... Make no mistake, switching from reliable sources of electricity like coal, natural gas,...

WILLCOX — A Scottsdale consulting firm, retained by Excelsior Mining Arizona, Inc., has estimated that if the Gunnison Copper Project is approved it will contribute nearly $21.2 million to local school districts during the next 11 years. In its Feb. 26 report, Elliott D. Pollack and Company cites a valuation forecast generated by Excelsior’s tax consultant, RSM, and the impact of the Safford Mine in neighboring Graham County as the basis for the tax forecast. “The Gunnison project, set to begin production in 2019, is projected to increase in value substantially each year over the next 10 years,” the report...

A US federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit seeking to hold Rio Tinto responsible for human rights violations and thousands of deaths linked to a Bougainville copper and gold mine it once ran. The appeals court has returned the case to US District Judge Margaret Morrow in Los Angeles for further proceedings. But some dissenting judges protested against allowing a lawsuit to proceed in federal courts brought by non-US residents against non-US companies such as Rio Tinto, which has corporate offices in the UK and Australia. The case is one of several in which non-US residents seek to hold...

The strategic framework and the correlation of forces in the Gulf of Guinea — one of the most significant and growing energy resource regions of the world — is changing rapidly. A new era in security arrangements for the region is beginning. The region is moving from an area of low technology defense and security systems, and minimal command and control at national levels, to one of growing sophistication, higher mobility, and the potential for military confrontation. The five-year, $250-million Equatorial Guinea maritime security program - essentially the build-up of an integrated naval and air capability - announced on February...

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The U.S. military is stepping up operations in the Gulf of Guinea to enhance security in this strategic and resource-rich region, the commander of U.S. European Command's naval surface combatant warships told the Pentagon Channel. U.S. military engagement along southwestern Africa's Atlantic coast has increased exponentially, Capt. Tom Rowden, commander of Task Force 65, said during a Pentagon interview last week. It's increased from almost no activity in 2004 to 130 "ship days" in 2005 to even more planned ship days this year, he said. The goal is to build long-term relationships that promote greater security and...

Thousands of Guineans on Wednesday cheered a young army captain chosen as de facto head of state by the military junta that took over the West African country in a coup after the death of President Lansana Conte. The installation of Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara as leader of the world's top bauxite exporter went ahead despite international condemnation and statements opposing the coup from civilian leaders and the top military commander. The coup leaders, calling themselves the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), appeared unopposed in their control of the Guinean capital Conakry two days after Conte's death from...

The Trump administration has resurrected an effort to build the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. Last December, the Obama administration declined to renew the long-standing leases that the company needs for the underground mine it wants to build near Ely. But an in opinion published Friday, a top attorney at the U.S. Interior Department concluded the Bureau of Land Management erred last year when it concluded that BLM had the power to grant or deny the lease renewals. Minnesota Public Radio News reports the reversal means the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service must reconsider Twin Metals'...

If a certain fecal matter had been the only instance of disrepute revealed from within the ranks of the Environmental Protection Agency today, that would have been more than enough; alas… it wasn’t. (snip) The environmental agency is having trouble locating emails belonging to a former agency employee and pulling information from his crashed hard drive, House members revealed Wednesday while questioning Administrator Gina McCarthy at a hearing on complaints of mismanagement. “What is it with bureaucrats and public employees … the hard drives crash?” asked Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.). He and others on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee...

MADISON – Aaron Rodgers has faced some of the most ferocious defensive linemen the National Football League has ever unleashed on professional football fields. The Green Bay Packers quarterback has passed his way to the top of his game, becoming among the most accurate, respected and highest paid players in NFL history. Now, Rodgers is taking on a much more brutal enemy: The murderous warlords of the Democratic Republic of Congo in command of a civil conflict that has claimed more than 3 million lives. Green Bay’s QB has signed up as a celebrity front man for Raise Hope for...

A New Orleans man was booked with felony theft Wednesday (Oct. 4) after FBI security cameras and security guards spotted him stealing copper from a construction project at the FBI New Orleans Field Office, according to a local FBI spokesman. Michael Bailey, 39, is accused of taking the copper from a construction zone on federal property, specifically the new visitor center being built at the FBI New Orleans Field Office at 2901 Leon C. Simon Blvd. The theft occurred about 6 p.m. Sept. 22, according to the FBI New Orleans Field Office. Through video surveillance and eyewitnesses, including security guards,...

Chinese intelligence-connected billionaire James Riady wants to purchase an enormous copper mine to corner the market for China despite being banned from the United States in 2001. The Chinese are colonizing Africa but rapidly running out of copper deposits to mine in stable areas. “No matter where the project is, Chinese investors are coming for it,” and as China’s appetite dramatically outpaces its domestic supply and as Chinese investors chase after other countries’ resources, that includes America.

Rio Tinto's proposed Resolution Copper Mine in Arizona would tunnel 7,000 feet underground, where rocks radiate heat from the earth’s molten core. It would suck up enough water to supply a city and leave a crater a mile and a half wide and 1,000 feet deep. Planned for more than a decade, the project would be a prototype for a looming era of more invasive U.S. mines as companies run out of easy-to-reach deposits, geologists say. It is also the project President Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, had in mind as he began crafting a "hit list" of regulations...

One of the world’s largest untapped copper deposits sits 7,000 feet below the Earth’s surface. It is a lode that operator Rio Tinto RIO 0.68% PLC wouldn’t have touched—until now. Not that long ago, an abundance of high-grade copper could be mined out of shallower open pits. But as those deposits are depleted and high-grade copper becomes tougher to find, firms such as Rio have been compelled to mine deeper underground.

U.S. security and law-enforcement officials say they have fresh evidence of recent efforts by Iran to evade sanctions and acquire metals from China used in high-tech weaponry, including long-range nuclear missiles. Iran's efforts are detailed in a series of recent emails and letters between Iranian companies and foreign suppliers seen by The Wall Street Journal. Business records show one Iranian company, ABAN Commercial & Industrial Ltd., has contracted through an intermediary for more than 30,000 kilograms (about 66,000 pounds) of tungsten copper -- which can be used in missile guidance systems -- from Advanced Technology & Materials Co. Ltd. of...

Not long ago, Dr. Copper was sick. Today the doctor is looking a lot healthier. It’s been a rough few years for copper. Since hitting all-time highs of US$10,250/metric tonne in February 2011, it has suffered nearly 6 years of tumbling prices. As shown in the graph below, copper fell 58 percent from its all-time highs to its lows in January 2016. But in the last year, the industrial metal’s fortunes have begun to reverse. Last year copper was up 17.4 percent, and in 2017 so far it’s up 8 percent to nearly $6,000/mT. It’s up 40 percent increase from...

Investing HavenNovember 12,2016 We have covered the copper market extensively in recent weeks. As the price of copper has truly gone balistic this week, it justifies another commentary with our view on where exactly copper stands, and where it can go from here. In other words, is the copper price forecast that bullish that it suggests a new bull market has started in 2016? MarketWatch is one of the few media outlets that provided some (positive) coverage on copper today. Their article implicitly suggests a bullish copper price forecast for the remainder of 2016: “Copper futures, meanwhile, saw a weekly...

A new report has government officials considering setting 10 million acres of across six states in the American west off limits to mining and development to protect the chicken-like Greater Sage Grouse, which is not an endangered species. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report found that much of the Sage Grouse’s habitat sits on top of extremely valuable deposits of minerals including gold, copper, lithium, silver, uranium and many others. The USGS report means that the government’s most restrictive grouse protection plan could kill even more than 31,000 jobs and lead to more than $5.6 billion in reduced annual economic...