Companies: AGU    BLT    POG    RIO    UKC   

Demand for steel from China and India continues to fuel strong increases in iron ore production. Rio Tinto increased output at its Hamersley iron operation in Western Australia’s Pilbara region 24 per cent year-on-year to a record 22.8 million tonnes in the second quarter of the year and production increases at Robe River, also in Australia, and in Canada, took the group’s total to 32 million tonnes.

Rio and other big iron ore producers, BHP Billiton and Brazil’s CVRD, persuaded steel makers to accept a 71.5 per cent price increase earlier this year. This makes the production increases particularly lucrative.

In Russia, Peter Hambro Mining says it is on track to produce one million oz of gold by 2009 after a 41 per cent production increase to 102,178 oz in the first half of this year. Angus & Ross is stepping up its search for tantalum in Greenland after recent price increases.

In Britain, however, UK Coal plans to mothball its Harworth colliery in Nottinghamshire because of geological problems. The company, which earlier shut its Ellington colliery in the North East, is sharply reducing its output.