Iron Ore
Fortescue Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nev Power climbs a pile of iron ore at the Fortescue Solomon iron ore mine located in the Valley of the Kings, around 400 km (248 miles) south of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, December 2, 2013. Reuters/David Gray/File photo

Iron ore price continue to defy analyst forecasts. Two days after the price of the key-steelmaking ingredient rose to US$58.70 (A$76.51) per tonne, establishing a seven-week high, it rose to US$62.70 (A$82.21) on Thursday.

The gain was 1.8 percent from Wednesday’s closing price of US$61.60 (A$80.77). It is iron ore’s highest level in almost six months when it reached US$65.20 (A$85.48) on April 29. Besides iron ore, coking coal – two key commodities for steel makers - also logged a 25 percent rise in October, The Australian reports.

The price hike came amid a fall in forecast of shipment among major producers of iron ore, although the industry is hoping that demand from China would go up. Cheaper imported iron ore is displacing the commodity produced domestically in China.

However, the better price of iron ore was not strong enough to lift shareprices of the mining giants in London trade where BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) stock price went down 1.7 percent and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) shed 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM) reported a production of 615,498 troy ounces of gold for the third quarter of 2016, up from Q2’s 598,037 ounces. The Australian miner also increased its copper output to 23,723 tonnes in Q3 from 21,228 tonnes in the previous quarter.

Newcrest attributed the higher production of the two metals to its Cadia operations in New South Wales where it ramped up its Cadia east mine, The Australian reports. The miner also reported higher output from its Gosowong mine in Indonesia, while its production from the Lihir mine in Papua New Guinea went down due to lower grades and closure of the processing facility in July.

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