The world economy finds itself in volatile and dynamic times and after a long period of unprecedented growth exploration and mining companies face a more demanding climate.

Reaching out and approaching qualified potential investors and partners has become more challenging with rising uncertainty concerning China’s demand for minerals and resources.

The Asia Mining Congress is the key meeting point for investors with Asian capital and potential global investment targets in the metals and mining industry. The congress will keep growing in influence for capital raising and financing as astute presentations and meetings with prequalified prospects become more important.

Accordingly, we have compiled the companies that are participating at the 9th Asia Mining Congress on 13 – 14 March 2013. We have released the first edition of the Investor’s Guide back in October and the second edition features additional participants of the congress that will be presenting.  If you missed out on the first edition of Investor’s Guide, you may download it here.

We hope that you will find this guide useful to identify companies and projects of interest that you may want to meet personally at the Asia Mining Congress 2013 in Singapore.

> Download Mining Investors’ Guide: 2^nd Edition

> Download Asia Mining Congress Brochure

The conference registration is now open! Save an extra $100 when you book and pay online with a credit card. Register online here.

Chile, the world’s main copper producing country, said Monday output is likely to reach a record high this year as BHP Billiton ramps up supply and state-owned Codelco starts a new mine in the Atacama Desert.

Based on the report published by the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco), the South American nation expects to generate 5.59 million tons of red metal this year, up 3% from 2012 levels.The country also forecasts world copper supply exceeding demand by 56,000 tons this year and 68,000 tons in 2014.

According to reports in Diaro FInanciero, BHP is increasing production at its Escondida mine, in Chile’s arid north, over 20%, while State’s owned Codelco is aiming to lift output to 1.7 million tons with activity starting at its Ministro Hales mine.

In terms of prices for the commodity, Cochilco sees copper prices averaging $3.57 per pound this year, unchanged from a previous estimate, before dropping to around $3.32 per pound in 2014. Chile supplies nearly one-third of the world’s copper demand. Earlier this month, the country announced it was delaying copper and gold projects worth $39 billion.

At the upcoming 9^th Asia Mining Congress, industry leaders and experts gather to share their insights and knowledge on the current and future trends of the mining sector. Download our event brochure to discover list of exciting programs and see who will be speaking at this year’s congress!

Source: Mining.com

Click here to find out more about mining opportunities and the current operational climate in Azerbaijan. Download Anglo Asian Mining’s presentation at Central Asia Mining Congress 2012.

The Central Asia Mining Congress is Central Asia’s leading industry event, where key stakeholders and decision makers from mining companies, investors and governments discuss the best strategies to develop partnerships and strategies for accessing & developing Central Asia’s mining industry. Packed with innovative content across 2 conference days, the Central Asia Mining Congress will attract over 300 senior decision makers from across Central Asia and globally.

For more information, please contact Jonathan Rogerson at jonathan.rogerson@terrapinn.com or +65 6322 2713.

Commodities trading giant Noble Group will be funding an important phase of USD2.2 billion Mongolia coal and rail project that Aspire Mining plans to develop.

According to Reuters report, Noble Resources has agreed to finance the 580 kilometer railway line which acts as a link way between Ovoot cooking coal project and Russia as well as China. The railway has the estimation cost of $1.3 billion and will require a concession from the Mongolian government before funding confirmation can be done.

In addition, Noble Group will attain an increase of 20% in marketing rights from the coal output from Ovoot, known to be the second largest coal reserves in Mongolia. Besides increasing its equity stake in Aspire from 10.1%  to 14.9%,  Noble Group might also be giving Aspire access to enter their port in Russia.

Aspire Mining MD Mr David Paull told Reuters “We have a mechanism now to access the seaborne market, which no Mongolian coal has been able to consistently access previously. So that’s important.” The Company aims to start the Ovoot coal project in 2014 with a target of 12 million tonnes of coal a year.

Director of Base Metals for Noble Resources, Mr. Rene van der Kam, will be joining us at the upcoming annual 9^th Asia Mining Congress on 13-14 March held at the prestigious Marina Bay Sands. Join him and other speaker panels, delegates and industry experts and sign up today!

To know more about Asia Mining Congress 2013 program line-up, download our event brochure here. See you there!

Source: Coal Guru

Significant cost inflation, skilled minerals industry workforce and lack of sufficient and suitable engineering sub-contractors are some challenges which some miners face in the Kazakhstan operational climate. In addition to that, vendor network and supplier arrangements and the nature of government bureaucratic processes have affected these mining businesses.

Nonetheless, we see growing gold production in Kazakhstan despite these operational challenges. Hambledon Mining PLC, active in Kazakhstan since 1998, pits itself against others and is focused on becoming a significant gold producer in Kazakhstan via organic growth and acquisition. It’s mine in Sekisovskoye produces from open pit and underground mines, with target production for 2017 – 1000,000 oz Au. Most of its funding stems from Sekisovskoye, and in February 2012 alone, it executed a US$15M loan agreement with EBRD.

Sekisovskoye is located in a mineral rich province with access to skilled local workforce, and the management enjoys good relations with local government and community representatives. There is local high voltage electricity, paved roads and a local water supply.

Hambledon Mining focueses on core infrastructure zones and mineral rich areas of Kazakhstan. It aims to improve productivity of Sekisovskoye and implement costs improvements to reduce operating costs. It builds on the cash flow from Sekisovskoye to fund exploration and development opportunities.

Find out more about mining in Kazakstan - click here to download Hambledon Mining’s presentation at the Central Asia Mining Congress 2012.

The Central Asia Mining Congress is Central Asia’s leading industry event, where key stakeholders and decision makers from mining companies, investors and governments discuss the best strategies to develop partnerships and strategies for accessing & developing Central Asia’s mining industry. Packed with innovative content across 2 conference days, the Central Asia Mining Congress will attract over 300 senior decision makers from across Central Asia and globally.

For more information, please contact Jonathan Rogerson at jonathan.rogerson@terrapinn.com or +65 6322 2713.

Stuart Kirk, currently the global head of the Financial Times’ esteemed Lex column, will be attending this year’s annual 9^th Asia Mining Congress which will be held at Marina Bay Sands in March. Since 2006, Mr. Kirk who is also the associate editor of Lex, delivers agenda-setting commentary on business and finance. At the congress, the former analyst will be covering a topic on the future demand and supply of China as well as potential funding sources that mining companies can look out for.

Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, commented: “Stuart’s contributions to the Lex column have been consistently clear and insightful. He brings a deep, practical understanding of companies and markets to the role and has helped strengthened Lex’s reputation as the premier financial column in the world. He is well-suited to lead its next phase of development across print and digital formats.”

Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, commented: “Stuart’s contributions to the Lex column have been consistently clear and insightful. He brings a deep, practical understanding of companies and markets to the role and has helped strengthen Lex’s reputation as the premier financial column in the world. He is well-suited to lead its next phase of development across print and digital formats.”

Also gracing the event will be Mr. Javier Blas, commodities editor for Financial Times. Mr. Blas articles covers topics on price of natural resources and the political, economical as well as social implications of commodities.

Both Mr. Javier Blas and Mr. Stuart Kirk of the Financial Times will be joining us at the annual 9^th Asia Mining Congress this year! Industry leaders will gather to discuss on critical trends and topic of the mining industry.

Download our event brochure to see other list of speakers and discussion topics for the event.

See you there!

Source:  Financial Times

Within Rio Tinto, the Exploration group is assigned to increase the value of the Company by discovering new minerals resources located throughout. The exploration group is divided three regional teams; the Americas, Australasia and Africa-Eurasia. At Rio Tinto, exploration cycle only ends when the explorers successfully discover new minerals and sent them for detailed evaluation to other product groups such as Aluminum, Copper, Diamonds & Minerals, Energy and Iron Ore.

Rio Tinto’s proven success in this highly competitive market is only possible with the intensive commitment to their exploration group and its strategy. Rio Tinto Exploration runs on four basic strategies which includes;

1. Focus only on Tier 1 deposits
2. Maximize in-house efforts
3. Decentralize structures
4. Concentrating on competitive strengths

By having their focus only on the largest and highest value minerals deposits (Tier 1), the group is able to maximize their value to shareholders rather than allocating potential time to lower value projects. When it comes to operations, the Company prefer to do it on their own compared to outsourcing. This enables the management team to overseas the whole process and ensure that it runs according to Rio Tinto’s values and objectives.

With many regional office and departments, Rio Tinto is able to set a strong presence within the community and at the same time get a great deal of understanding of both operating and working environment. The last key exploration strategy would be to concentrate on their current competitive strengths instead of expanding the boundaries.

Rio Tinto Explorations have successfully set its name on various levels such as being the world leading expertise in bulk commodities, highly effective in sustaining exploration efforts, strong branding and partnering reputation, great geological knowledge through extensive exploration and strong tradition on instilling innovative technologies.

The CFO of Rio Tinto Exploration, Mr Shane Sullivan will be joining us at the annual 9^th Asia Mining Congress at the prestigious Marina Bay Sands on 12 – 15 March 2013. Alongside other distinguish panel of speakers, Mr Sullivan will be sharing his knowledge and skills at the event.

Download our event brochure for more information on our speakers and seminars!

Source: Rio Tinto Exploration Fact Sheet

PwC have recently interviewed Mr Randy Smallwood, the President and CEO of Silver Wheaton Corporation. With having its prices raised by 20% in mid November last year, silver was names the best performing metal in the year 2012. In PwC Global Silver Survey which was conducted among silver mining companies, 75% quoted of a rise in the price of silver for the year 2013.

Mr Smallwood mentioned “It’s a rising market. Silver has already outperformed gold this year and I think that will continue for a while. Gold will do well, silver will just do better. I expect to see silver hit US$40 In the next few months, with the possibility of silver reaching US$50 in 2013.”

Silver Wheaton Corporation is very comfortable dominating their field especially when gold is already owned by two most established gold mining companies, Royal Gold and Sandstorm Gold. Instead of seeking for more competition, Silver Wheaton wished to maximize the potential for silver.

As a great conductor of electricity, light-weight and efficiency, it is believed that silver is in for the long-term especially when it comes to the rising demand for solar energy. On a high note, Mr Smallwood quoted, “It’s not that we don’t like gold, we just see greater opportunity in silver”. Many miners and industry analyst is confident that this year will be an even more glittering year for silver.

To learn more on gold and silver investment and meet industry experts, do come down to annual 9^th Asia Mining Congress that is happening at the prestigious Marina Bay Sands on 12- 15 March 2013!

Download our event brochure now for more information on the list of speakers and programs up for our delegates.

Source: PwC Global Silver Survey 2013

The Company have already requested for a meeting with the Minister for a discussion on Wiluna Uranium Project which is suited to support the global shortfall in uranium supply in 2015-2016. Toro Energy is continuing to engage with potential JV partner groups interested in buying into the project and assist in financing for the mine’s construction.

With 28 years experience in the resources industry, Toro’s Managing Director, Mr Greg Hall quoted, “Toro is confident that it can adequately respond to the issues raised by the Minister to allow him to make a decision on the project will before the stated timeframe.”

Mr Hall was also a Marketing Manager for ERA Ltd from 2000 to 2004 and during this time he undertook uranium sales negotiations and contracts with North American utilities, and visited a number of nuclear power plants, conversion and enrichment plants and various waste repository facilities, enabling a broad view and understanding of the global nuclear power industry.

The hear more about the global nuclear power industry and future of uranium from Mr Hall himself, come down to Asia Mining Congress 2013 where mining experts and investors share their knowledge and skills.

Download the event brochure to find out more!

Source: Toro Energy News

Gold Resource Corp declared its monthly dividend of six cents per share for December towards the end of 2012.

The company, with operations in southern Mexico, said the dividend is payable on January 23, to shareholders of record as of January 11. In November, the company announced third quarter results, reporting a 54% increase in gold equivalent production over the prior quarter, when the company saw some production challenges.

“Our 54% increase in third quarter production was the result of overcoming many challenges including increasing water, increasing CO2 gas and mine development hurdles,” said Gold Resource president, Jason Reid, at the time.

“We continued to upgrade our management team which I believe was in large part the reason behind the increase in production.”

The company hired Barry Devlin as its new VP of exploration in late November. His new responsibilities include

reserve calculations, mine development planning as well as grade control. Jesus Rivera is also appointed as general manager of its Mexican Oaxaca mining unit, which is responsible for its El Aguila project, in October.

As of mid-November, Gold Resource Corp returned more than $63 million to shareholders in monthly dividends since starting commercial production at its El Aguila mine in July 2010, and is the first company to offer stakeholders the option to convert their cash dividends into physical gold or silver.

Join us at the 9^th #Asia Mining Conference where Jason Reid, President of Gold Resource, will be presenting on the company as well as their latest developments. He will be joined by other mining experts as well as key figures in the industry in the Congress, which takes place from 12-15 March 2013 at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre.

Source: Deborah Bacal