Iron Ore Company of Canada was founded in 1949 from a partnership of Canadian and American M.A. Hanna Company. It is now owned by a new consortium, including the Mitsubishi and Rio Tinto corporations.
Based in Montreal, Quebec, IOC currently has mining and concentrator operations in Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, and operates the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway to ship ore concentrate from the mines to the port of Sept-Îles, Quebec.
During 1977 to 1983, the president of the company was Brian Mulroney, who later served as Canadian Prime Minister from 1984 to 1993.
The industry and market of Iron Ore is an investment in the long run no doubt. Because Iron Ore is a key commodity in steel making, anything that has to do with steel, such as the cars we drive and other ways of transportation, would not be possible without it. Read the rest of this entry »
In the June quarter 2011, Australia’s mined nickel production (in nickel content terms) increased quarter–on–quarter, by 16 per cent to 54000 tonnes. Total nickel export volumes in the June quarter increased by 6 per cent, compared to March, to 54000 tonnes. The value of Australia’s nickel exports in the June quarter declined by 11 per cent, relative to the March quarter, to $966 million, reflecting lower world nickel prices.
Australian nickel mine production increased by 21 per cent in 2010–11, relative to 2009–10, to total 193000 tonnes. This reflected higher production from BHP Billiton’s Nickel West operation in Western Australia. Refined nickel production decreased by 16 per cent in 2010–11, relative to 2009–10, to total 101000 tonnes, due to lower production from BHP Billiton’s Kwinana refinery as a result of a shortage of necessary inputs to production. Read the rest of this entry »
Australia’s mined zinc production (in metal content terms) in the June quarter 2011 totalled 384000 tonnes, an increase of 14 per cent from the March quarter 2011. The increase in production reflected better weather conditions in Queensland, which affected production in the March quarter. In line with higher production, zinc export volumes (in metal content terms) increased by 21 per cent quarter on quarter, to 421000 tonnes. Australia’s zinc export values in the June quarter increased by 11 per cent, relative to the March quarter, to $637 million, underpinned by an increase in export volumes.
Zinc mine production (in metal content terms) increased by 9 per cent in 2010–11, relative to 2009–10, to total 1.5 million tonnes. This was supported by increased production at Xstrata’s Mount Isa operations, Terramin’s Angus Zinc mine, and CBH’s Endeavour Mine. Further increases in zinc production in 2010–11 were limited by adverse weather conditions affecting production at a number of mines at the beginning of 2011. Refined zinc production decreased by 3 per cent in 2010–11, relative to 2009–10, to total 499000 tonnes as the availability of refinery feedstock was affected by the adverse weather conditions. Read the rest of this entry »
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile. Pure nickel shows a significant chemical activity that can be observed when nickel is powdered to maximize the exposed surface area on which reactions can occur, but larger pieces of the metal are slow to react with air at ambient conditions due to the formation of a protective oxide surface. Even then, nickel is reactive enough with oxygen so that native nickel is rarely found on Earth’s surface, being mostly confined to the interiors of larger nickel–iron meteorites that were protected from oxidation during their time in space. On Earth, such native nickel is always found in combination with iron, a reflection of those elements’ origin as major end products of the nucleosynthesis process in supernovas. An iron–nickel mixture is thought to compose Earth’s inner core.
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Australia’s gold production in the June quarter 2011 was 67 tonnes; an increase of 5 per cent from the March quarter 2011. However, gold export volumes decreased in the June quarter by 9 per cent, relative to the March quarter, to 71 tonnes. In line with weaker export volumes, the value of Australia’s gold exports decreased in the June quarter by 7 per cent to $3.2 billion.
In 2010–11, Australia’s gold mine production increased by 11 per cent, relative to 2009–10, to total 266 tonnes. The majority of this increase can be attributed to a full year of production at Newmont’s Boddington operation in Western Australia.
Gold export volumes fell by 10 percent in 2010–11, relative to 2009–10, to 301 tonnes. This was due to an increase in domestic production being outweighed by a decline in scrap and gold imports from overseas. Lower export volumes were offset by higher gold prices resulting in the total value of Australian gold exports remaining unchanged at $13 billion. Read the rest of this entry »
Zinc is a mineral that is usually not found by itself. Some ores that have zinc in them are: sphalerite, franklinite, willemite, zincite, smithsonite, hemimorphite, and hydrozincite. Some of these ores are fluorescent. Zinc is found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. A sheet of zinc would look like a sheet of aluminum but it would be heavier.
How and where is it mined? Zinc ore is mined using underground and Surface [Open-pit] mining or a combination of both. The Sterling Hill Mine is famous for mining zinc. The mines are closed now except for tours. After the ore is mined, they do something called flash smelting where they heat up the ore until it makes zinc oxide [zinc + oxygen]. The zinc ends up as powder. Zinc ore is mined in China, Australia, Peru, Canada, and the U.S. [Alaska, Tennessee, Missouri].
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In the June quarter 2011, Australia’s iron ore production increased by 15 per cent, relative to the March quarter 2011, to 121 million tonnes. This was supported by an increase in production at several mines located in the Pilbara region including the ramp-up of production at Fortescue Metal Group’s Chichester Hub 40–55 million tonne expansion.
Reflecting an increase in production, iron ore export volumes in the June quarter increased by 13 per cent, relative to the March quarter, to 106 million tonnes. An increase in export volumes more than offset lower prices resulting in the value of iron ore exports in the June quarter increasing by 7 per cent quarter on quarter to $14.1 billion.
In 2010–11, iron ore production increased by 6 per cent to 450 million tonnes supported by increased production capacity in the Pilbara region. This was despite disruptions to production and exports caused by heavy rain in late 2010 and early 2011. The increase was supported by higher levels of production at several mines, including at Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton operations. Read the rest of this entry »
Uranium
Radioactive ores were first extracted at Radium Hill in 1906, and Mount Painter in South Australia in the 1930s, to recover radium for medical use. Several hundred kilograms of uranium were also produced.
Of the world’s proven estimated uranium reserves (5,469,000 tonnes), 23% are held in Australia (1,243,000 tonnes), ahead of Kazakhstan (15% or 817,000 tonnes). Other major world reserves are held in the Russian Federation, South Africa, Canada, USA, Brazil and Namibia (37% combined).
In terms of production, Canada is the largest supplier to export markets, followed by Kazakhstan and Australia. Australia exported 50,235 tonnes of uranium oxide concentrate in the five years to 2008, worth A$2.9 billion. Read the rest of this entry »
Coal in Australia is mined primarily in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. It is used to generate electricity and 54% of the coal mined in Australia is exported, mostly to eastern Asia. In 2000/01, 258.5 million tonnes of coal was mined, and 193.6 million tonnes exported. Coal also provides about 85% of Australia’s electricity production.[1] In fiscal year 2008/09, 487 million tonnes of coal was mined, and 261 million tonnes exported. Australia is the world’s leading coal exporter.
Coal mining in Australia has been the subject of criticism from members of the environmental movement, because burning coal releases carbon dioxide, which is generally understood to contribute to climate change, global warming, sea level rise and the effects of global warming on Australia. The burning of coal produces 42.1% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, not counting export coal, based on 2004 GHG inventory.
Both Greenpeace Australia Pacific (Energy [R]evolution and Beyond Zero Emissions (Zero Carbon Australia 2020 have produced reports claiming a transition can be made to renewable energy and Greenpeace has called for a just transition for coal based communities, but others argue at present there is no strong evidence of a viable alternative for the vast majority of Australia’s electricity generation, or for the significant economic and social benefits coal mining delivers to regional communities. Coal Seam Gas, methane-based gas associated with deposits of coal has historically been flared, however over the past 10 years has been recovered and used to generate further electricity. Read the rest of this entry »
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al(OH)3, boehmite γ-AlO(OH), and diaspore α-AlO(OH), in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2. Bauxite was named after the village Les Baux in southern France, where it was first recognised as containing aluminium and named by the French geologist Pierre Berthier in 1821.
Bauxite formation
Lateritic bauxites (silicate bauxites) are distinguished from karst bauxite ores (carbonate bauxites). The early discovered carbonate bauxites occur predominantly in Europe and Jamaica above carbonate rocks (limestone and dolomite), where they were formed by lateritic weathering and residual accumulation of intercalated clays or by clay dissolution residues of the limestone.
The lateritic bauxites are found mostly in the countries of the tropics. They were formed by lateritization (see laterite) of various silicate rocks such as granite, gneiss, basalt, syenite, and shale. In comparison with the iron-rich laterites, the formation of bauxites demands even more on intense weathering conditions in a location with very good drainage. This enables the dissolution of the kaolinite and the precipitation of the gibbsite. Zones with highest aluminium content are frequently located below a ferruginous surface layer. The aluminium hydroxide in the lateritic bauxite deposits is almost exclusively gibbsite.
Bauxite Production trends
In 2007, Australia was one of the top producers of bauxite with almost one-third of the world’s production, followed by China, Brazil, Guinea, and India. Although aluminium demand is rapidly increasing, known reserves of its bauxite ore are sufficient to meet the worldwide demands for aluminium for many centuries. Increased aluminium recycling, which has the advantage of lowering the cost in electric power in producing aluminium, will considerably extend the world’s bauxite reserves. Read the rest of this entry »
