The credit crunch has set mining off on a losing streak as the world looks to putting the brakes on commodities production to avoid the build-up of surplus stocks.

What follows is a sorry chronicle of operational closures, curtailments, deferments and reviews, mainly to conserve scarce cash, beginning with the lastest:

DECEMBER 4 – Brazil’s Vale says it will shut its Copper Cliff South mine, in Sudbury, Ontario, in January, because of weak nickel prices and slumping demand.

DECEMBER 3 – BHP Billiton says it will reduce manganese and alloy production in line with market weakness; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold says it is halving capital spending, reducing copper output and suspending dividends until market conditions improve; JSE-listed diamond producer BRC Diamondcore says it has implemented a strategic suspension of bulk sampling projects in the Northern Cape, because of depressed diamond prices; and South African trade union Solidarity says more than 12 000 mining jobs could be at risk in the country.

DECEMBER 1 – Diamond-miner Petra Diamonds says it has started an operational review at its Helam and Star fissure mines in South Africa, because of weakening diamond prices; Hernic Ferrochrome says it has reduced production by some 70%, and is operating only one of the four furnaces in Brits; and the Xstrata-Merafe joint venture says it will suspend operations at another five ferrochrome furnaces, bringing the company’s off-line capacity to 906 000 t/y, more than half of its annual production capability.

NOVEMBER 26 – Canadian coal-miner Western Canadian Coal says it will temporarily suspend mining at Willow Creek, in British Columbia, at the end of the month; and Bindura Nickel Corporation, majority-owned by Mwana Africa, closes two nickel mines, and its smelter and refinery in Zimbabwe, citing low nickel prices and opera- tional problems.

NOVEMBER 25 – The world’s second-biggest zinc producer, Australia’s OZ Minerals, says it will reduce production at its Century zinc mine and defer A$495-million in capital spending as it adjusts to a new environment of lower metals prices; the world’s biggest miner, BHP Billiton, calls off its ambitious bid for smaller rival Rio Tinto, citing “the continued deterioration of near-term global economic conditions”; the owners of the Midwest uranium project, in Canada’s Saskatchewan province, say they will postpone development of the mine until economic conditions improve; ferrochrome producer International Ferro Metals suspends production at its two ferrochrome furnaces in South Africa in response to falling demand.

NOVEMBER 24 – JSE-listed Rockwell Diamonds of Vancouver says it will extend its usual two-week shutdown to five weeks this year-end, to help the company conserve cash, in response to falling diamond prices; and Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest producer of nickel and palladium, says it will put its Waterloo and Silver Swan underground mines, in Western Australia, on care and maintenance.

NOVEMBER 21 – Katanga Mining says it has temporarily stopped mining operations at the Tilwezembe openpit and ore processing at its Kolwezi concentrator, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in response to slumping cobalt prices; and Apogee Minerals says it has halted production at its La Solucion silver/lead/zinc mine, in Bolivia, after low metals prices, declining grades and high costs rendered the operation unprofitable.

NOVEMBER 20 – Diversified miner Teck Cominco says it will suspend dividends, curtail zinc production at its Trail operation, in British Columbia, sell a gold property in Chile to Toronto-based Kinross Gold and reduce overall capital expenditure by C$730-mil- lion. Teck also expects coal sales for the rest of this year and in 2009 to be affected by softening demand for steel. LSE-listed precious metals producer Hochschild Mining says it will delay its San Felipe zinc project, in northern Mexico, and retrench 150 workers in an effort to reduce costs. Hochschild has also deferred most of its 2009 capital expenditure, which will now be limited to sustaining existing operations and investments to which it is already committed. Impala Platinum says it has suspended its share buy-back programme, and will review its capital expenditure, in an effort to preserve cash, given the current global financial crisis and economic downturn, the rapid decline in platinum-group metal (PGM) prices, and the increased volatility within the capital markets.

NOVEMBER 19 – Vancouver-based First Majestic Silver, which produces the precious metal from three mines in Mexico, says it has temporarily suspended activities at its Cuitaboca project; Impala Platinum says that the decline in PGM prices and the increased volatility in global capital markets have complicated the firm’s R21,2-billion bid for Mvelaphanda Resources and Northam Platinum; Aim-listed base metals producer Weatherly International says it is closing two of its copper-mining projects in Namibia and retrenching 100 workers from two other Namibian operations because of the decline in copper prices; and Central African Mining & Exploration Company says it has temporarily suspended copper- and cobalt-mining opera-tions in the DRC, because of weak demand and low prices.

NOVEMBER 18 – US PGMs-miner Still- water Mining says it will scale down operations at its East Boulder mine, reduce capital expenditure and cut jobs across the group, in an attempt to stay profitable after palladium and platinum prices fell more than 60% from levels earlier in the year; and the world’s third-largest platinum-miner, Lonmin, says it will halt the Limpopo and Akanani growth projects.

NOVEMBER 17 – The owners of the Fort Hills oil sands project, in Northern Alberta, Canada, say that they will delay making a final investment decision on the mine until market conditions stabilise; London-listed Gem Diamonds warns that it might post a full-year loss, is reassessing its operations amid the global credit crunch and has halted two projects in Africa; and Teal Exploration & Mining says that it has cut output at the Lupoto copper project’s small-scale mining operation, in the DRC.

NOVEMBER 14 – Geovic Mining of the US says that it will delay construction and fundraising for its Nkamouna cobalt project, in Cameroon, because of turmoil in global commodities, capital and credit markets.

NOVEMBER 13 – TSX- and ASX-listed copper-miner Anvil Mining says that it has suspended the fabrication and construction works for its Kinsevere Stage II solvent extraction-electrowinning plant, until the company arranges additional funding and the global financial and commodities markets stabilise; Xstrata Nickel says it will cease operations ahead of schedule at the Craig and Thayer-Lindsley mines, in Sudbury, in response to low nickel prices and base-metals-miner Lundin Mining says it will suspend zinc production from its Neves-Corvo copper/zinc mine, in Portugal, and put another operation, Aljustrel, on care and maintenance until metal prices recover.

NOVEMBER 12 – First Quantum says it has suspended copper production at its Bwana Mkubwa plant, in Zambia, and is renegotiat- ing supply contracts to try to accelerate the benefits of lower prices for oil and other key consumables, after the fall of the copper price. The company will also defer nonessential exploration and capital expenditure programmes. Ferrochrome producer International Ferro Metals says that it will cut 40% of production and delay capital expenditure projects to ensure that the company weathers the economic storm; and Dutch aluminium producer Vimetco says it will cut its production in China by a further 15 000 t, in addition to an 80 000-t cut announced in October, and may cut production in Romania by 65 000 t/y in 2009, resulting in the group’s total output being reduced by 160 000 t, to about 515 000 t

NOVEMBER 11 – Cameco Corporation says it is “re-examining” expenditures, in response to the “effective shutdown” of the capital debt market; TSX-listed Arehada Mining says that it has begun a temporary shutdown of operations at its zinc/lead/ silver mine and plant, in Inner Mongolia, China, after falling metal prices made the operation unprofitable; Frontera Copper says it has suspended mining activities at its Piedras Verdes operation in Mexico, and will cut its workforce by about 100, in response to low metals prices; and China’s refined nickel output is forecast to fall nearly 10%, to 130 000 t this year.

NOVEMBER 10 – World number two zinc-miner OZ Minerals says it is reviewing all capital and operational expenditures, in response to “low and volatile” commodity prices, turbulent currency exchange rates and tight credit markets; Xstrata Alloys and Merafe Resources say they will suspend six furnaces of the Xstrata-Merafe chrome joint venture, representing 500 000 t, 29% of the annual ferrochrome production; Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold says it will cut molybdenum production at its Henderson mine, in Colorado, by 25%, in response to lower metal prices and weak global economic conditions, defer the planned 2010 restart of its Climax molybdenum mine, and review production levels at its copper-mining operations; Alcan says it will review a $10,6-billion aluminium joint venture with Saudi firm Maaden; and Rio Tinto says it will cut its Australian iron-ore production by 10%, in response to a reduction in demand and reduced shipments.

NOVEMBER 7 – Eastern Platinum says it is re-evaluating its short-term development plan in response to lower PGM prices; and TSX-listed Silver Eagle Mines, which owns a silver and base-metals mine in Mexico, says it is considering putting itself up for sale, after it was unable to arrange debt financing.

NOVEMBER 6 – Molybdenum producer Thompson Creek Metals postpones the development of its Davidson underground mine in Canada, after a “dramatic reduction” in molybdenum prices; and Canadian metals- miner FNX Mining cuts its spending for a second time.

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