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Mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd says its net profit for 2009 rose 33 per cent with record iron ore sales and a significant increase in copper and gold production.

Mined copper production was up 36 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2008 with higher production at all operations, notably at Escondida and Grasberg. Refined copper production was up 15 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2008 following higher concentrate grades and a further improvement in performance at Kennecott Utah Copper. Mined gold production exceeded 1.1 million ounces in 2009, 141 per cent above 2008, attributable to higher grades at Kennecott Utah Copper and Grasberg. Production cutbacks were maintained in the Aluminium group in response to market conditions. Bauxite production was down one per cent, alumina down two per cent and aluminium down three per cent, compared with the fourth quarter of 2008. At the end of 2009 Rio Tinto Alcan’s annual run rate was nine per cent lower than at the start of the year.

(AP) — LONDON - Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto PLC said Thursday that demand for iron ore, copper and gold rose strongly in the fourth quarter, but was cautious about the current year as governments wind down economic stimulus programs.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold CEO Richard Adkerson says the strong performance of copper in the market place last year and the economic growth in China have created an encouraging outlook for copper this year.

Mining giant Freeport-McMoRan has bought the long-closed Twin Buttes Mine site near Sahuarita for $200 million and may mine it once again, company officials said. Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. bought 8,900 acres of the open-pit mine

Xiangguang Copper, a copper smelting unit of chicken supplier Shandong Fengxiang Group is planning to acquire a stake in Australian gold and copper miner CuDeco, to bolster its raw material supplies.

People close to the Mongolian mining industry have said they believed Rio and Chinalco were working out a deal on Oyu Tolgoi, a copper-gold deposit that is a joint venture between Rio and Ivanhoe Mines of Canada.

With positive economic readings and mineral prices holding returning, Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold said it is hiring more than 600 workers in Arizona as it ramps up production at its mines. About 400 workers are being hired at the company’s Morenci Mine in Greenlee County where the company will increase its production to 700,000 tons per day, from 500,000 tons per day.

Outotec has agreed with the First Quantum Minerals Limited Projects Office based in Perth, Australia, for the delivery of flotation, thickening and automation technologies for several of its operations around the world. The total value of the contracts exceeds EUR 20 million. These orders include the delivery of 14 units of Outotec TankCell® 300 and 54 smaller TankCell® units for nickel and copper concentrate production for the Kevitsa project, located in northern Finland. This flotation technology delivery complements the earlier agreed supply of Outotec® grinding mills for the same project.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N) sees a tighter global supply base for copper and strong demand from China and the developing world favoring the industrial metal's longer-term outlook.

Xstrata Copper has found increased mineral reserves and indicated resources at the Horse-Ivaal-Trukai (HIT) deposit in the Frieda River copper-gold project, Papua New Guinea.

The deal, OZ's largest 100% acquisition since it emerged from the wreckage of the merger between Oxiana Ltd. and Zinifex Ltd. after the global financial crisis, could more than double the company's resources of copper and gold and consolidate its land holdings in the Gawler Craton, a geological region of South Australia which also holds OZ's main Prominent Hill asset and BHP Billiton

The discovery, known as Ulaan Khud North, extends the known strike length of the Oyu Tolgoi mineralised system by an additional 3 km to the north, to more than 23 km.

The decision follows feasibility studies into the construction of a magnetite processing facility and the installation of full scale underground mining operations at EHM that have resulted in a revised Ore Reserve Estimate of 72 million tonnes at a grade of 1.0% copper, 0.5 grams per tonne gold and 22% magnetite. The total tonnage represents a 600% increase over previously published underground reserves. Ore will be mined principally from a major hoisting shaft to be sunk to a depth of 1,000 metres, producing 6 million tonnes per annum of ore at full capacity.

SANTIAGO -(Dow Jones)- The bulk of the world's copper smelting capacity is moving towards the Asian continent, while environmental and other requirements will likely move the industry to incorporate different technology, a Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) executive said Tuesday.