This Month
World’s largest copper producer says Trump’s tariffs are causing ‘anxiety’
The chairman of Chile’s state-owned Codelco says the US president’s announcement of 50 per cent tariffs has generated confusion in the industry.
Trump’s copper tariffs will backfire on the US
The administration wants to “bring copper production home”, but the most likely result is that manufacturers will have little choice but to pay more for it.
June
Milei goes for broke in Argentina
The South American country’s president offers a radical experiment in economic therapy for a nation in desperate financial straits.
Trump-Musk feud goes nuclear; KWM’s cautionary China tale; Joe Aston on Planet Ark
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
GDP misses forecasts; ASIC sues Westpac; The big Virgin IPO question
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
BHP’s monumental copper pay and play in Chile
The world’s largest copper mine shows how intertwined the fortunes of Australia’s big miners are with what’s happening with critical minerals.
May
Rio Tinto strikes $1.4b Chilean lithium deal with Codelco
The company will invest in the Salar de Maricunga project as it focuses on reducing its dependence on iron ore.
Austria wins Eurovision crown with pop-opera song ‘Wasted Love’
The win was Austria’s third in the competition, following Conchita’s success and Udo Juergens’ victory in 1966.
Malbec country turns back to mining
Mendoza, a province best known for its Malbec, could open a new mine in a nationwide rush for the red metal under President Javier Milei.
April
Astronomers find strongest evidence yet of alien life
Scientists have discovered a distant planet covered with a warm ocean that may be teeming with microbial activity in what they called a “revolutionary” moment.
March
Tariffs will bring ‘nothing but pain’ to rural America, farmers say
Farmers expressed particular concern about the impact of retaliatory tariffs, saying they will restrict their access to some of the US’s most important export markets.
January
When did Sydney’s beaches start looking like campgrounds?
Call me an old hippie, but I still believed that respect for our hallowed coastline extended beyond not littering to keeping visual pollution to a minimum as well.
December 2024
Australian-based bishop among Pope’s new cardinal picks
At 44 years of age, Mykola Bychokthe, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, is also the youngest cardinal.
November 2024
Craving copper? $502m miner Marimaca preps ASX listing
Sources said CEO Hayden Locke has been encouraged by TSX-listed $C7.5 billion Capstone Copper’s ASX listing earlier this year and sees it as a template for Marimaca.
October 2024
Pilbara Minerals cuts lithium output, suspends plant
The miner is scaling back to endure the lithium price slump, cutting annual output and icing operations at its Ngungaju facility.
September 2024
Peru’s Fujimori, divisive head of a political dynasty, dies age 86
During his decade in power, he revived the economy and crushed two leftist insurgencies. But he was forced out in a corruption scandal and later imprisoned.
August 2024
Strike at BHP-owned mine ends as workers win $48,000 bonus
BHP had previously offered a $US28,900 bonus per worker, compared with the union’s demand of 1 per cent of shareholder dividends from the mine.
Strike hits BHP’s biggest copper mine
Workers walked off the job at the Escondida mine in Chile that produces about 5 per cent of the world’s mined copper.
Bad news for Australia: China’s steel crisis is set to deepen
Prices are tumbling, profits are dwindling, and there’s little relief on offer from a government focused on retooling China’s economy for the long term.
Albemarle sounds warning on critical minerals processing
The US-based firm’s decision to reduce output from its lithium hydroxide plant and write down much of its investment demonstrates the flaws in Australia’s plan for greater domestic processing of critical minerals.