Rio Tinto to axe $7bn in costs; sell more assets

Like its peers, Rio Tinto has been cutting costs, reviewing other projects and closing coal mines in Australia due to depressed commodity prices, high costs and the strong Australian dollar. MELBOURNE/SYDNEY, 29 Nov 2012 (Reuters) – Rio Tinto aims to axe $7 billion in costs over the next two years and sell more assets to cushion against weaker commodity prices, while at the same time beefing up output in its lucrative iron ore business.

First Quantum ‘surprised and disappointed’ at Inmet Mining’s rejection of C$4.86b offer

While some suggest First Quantum Minerals may not want to engage in a hostile takeover of Canadian copper miner Inmet, additional offers could be forthcoming from other companies. First Quantum Minerals confirmed Thursday that it had approached Inmet Mining on October 28th “on a friendly basis to discuss a possible combination of the two mining companies.

Conflict minerals not fueling M23 rebellion

johannesburg (Osisa.org) – The capture of Goma by M23 rebel forces is the latest demonstration of the ineffectiveness of the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its army (the FARDC). Whatever the political machinations behind the military’s most recent capitulation may be, the overarching themes are the longstanding institutional and governance weaknesses of Congo’s central authorities – weaknesses that the Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) has highlighted multiple times in its reports and analyses.