Rio boss sees low coal prices for seven years
Rio Tinto coal and copper boss Jean-Sebastien Jacques says thermal coal prices are likely to stay depressed for five to seven years but copper could stage a recovery in two years.
Thermal coal is languishing near $US51 ($70) a tonne, down 20% this year, and a huge drop on the $US150 a tonne it was trading at during the peak of the boom in 2011.
More iron ore coming on stream, says Fitch
The Australian Financial Review reports that more than 145 million metric tons of new iron ore supply will be brought on stream next year and in 2017, according to Fitch Ratings, which forecast that prices are unlikely to recover.
The projected increase in supply is more than 10% of the estimated seaborne market of about 1.3 billion tons, Fitch said in a note. Prices are expected to average $US50 a ton through 2015 and 2016, it said.
BHP dismisses Brazil pollution claims
BHP Billiton has dismissed claims from the United Nations that waste unleashed into Brazil's River Doce by a dam-wall failure at its part-owned iron ore operation is toxic, claiming they “will behave in the environment like normal soils” and are chemically stable, according to the Australian Financial Review.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday night that new evidence showed the waste “contained high levels of toxic heavy metals and other toxic chemicals”, and hospitals had “received several patients”
