Frik Els, Author at MINING.COM

Gold price bounces around on jobs, inflation data

Gold gaps higher after dismal US jobs numbers and fresh Spanic

The raft of bad US economic numbers this week that culminated in the terrible employment report this morning, combined with the stream of bad news emanating from Europe, saw the gold price jump more than $50 an ounce on Friday.

Frik Els | June 1, 2012 | 5:07 pm

Neo Material Tech shareholders agree to Molycorp takeover, but what they really wanted was the cash

Under the terms of the deal Neo Material stockholders had the option to either receive cash or shares in Molycorp, but so many chose the former option that it exceeded the maximum cash amount that could be paid out to them.

Frik Els | May 31, 2012 | 9:55 pm

Highland raises $16.5 million for Upper Peninsula copper properties

Micro-cap Highland Resources added 28% to trade at 9c on Wednesday on higher than usual trading volumes, after announcing it has closed the final tranche of its non-brokered private placement, raising a total of $16.5 million.

Frik Els | May 31, 2012 | 7:15 pm

Outer Harbour 1, Olympic Dam-Jansen 0: BHP gets final approval for $20 billion iron ore expansion

There are "growing signs" that Outer Harbour will take precedence over BHP's massive Olympic Dam project and the greenfield Jansen potash venture in Canada.

Frik Els | May 31, 2012 | 6:29 pm

Xstrata's 'Big Mick' says no retention bonus brings 'unnecessary risks'

Why isn’t this copper miner smiling? He’s getting a $45 million bonus just for staying on

In all $265 million will be doled out to senior management at Xstrata to stop them from jumping ship after a merger with Glencore. The two companies are also paying $200 million to their advisers to push the deal through.

Frik Els | May 31, 2012 | 5:36 pm

Joy Global sinks to year-low, forecasts further US and worldwide slowdown

“Our second quarter reflects both excellence in our execution and concerns over slowing in our markets”

Frik Els | May 31, 2012 | 4:00 pm

China factory data roils copper stocks – Freeport down 9%

China slowdown watch: Graff Diamonds pulls IPO

Graff Diamonds only received half the expected orders. Its announcement comes just one week after China Nonferrous Mining Corp pulled the planned listing of its Zambian copper assets in Hong Kong.

Frik Els | May 30, 2012 | 9:22 pm

Blanchard: Fed overselling rate hike great for gold

Olympic Dam decision pushed to the wire

If the board of the world's largest miner does not make a decision on the giant copper-gold-uranium-silver project in South Australia's outback by 8 December then it would lose all approvals and royalties concessions.

Frik Els | May 30, 2012 | 9:00 pm

Gold traders peer into bear territory before Spanic triggers buying

The raft of US economic numbers out this week and the stream of bad news emanating from Europe saw the gold price swing in a $40 an ounce range on Wednesday.

Frik Els | May 30, 2012 | 8:06 pm

‘A decade of rising commodity prices is always followed by two decades of declines.’ Now you tell us!

Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley, makes one of the most bearish statements yet on the end of the so-called commodity supercycle.

Frik Els | May 30, 2012 | 5:06 pm