Mining

BHP Billiton has cut its full-year copper production guidance and outlined plans to sell some of its US shale acreage, while also announcing record iron ore production and reaffirming plans for its South Flank development in the Pilbara.

Ausdrill-Barminco joint venture African Underground Mining Services has won a $US280 million ($A373 million) contract to provide its services to Newmont Mining's Subika underground gold operation in Ghana.

Nearly 4,000 shareholders in West Perth company Moly Mines have effectively become stranded in the $63 million cashbox after a stand-off between its board and the ASX ended in a delisting of its stock.

Saracen Mineral Holdings has increased its offer for Bligh Resources' Bundarra gold project after Zeta Resources made a competing bid last week.

Newly appointed chief executives in WA are on substantially lower salary packages compared with recent years, a Business News survey has found.

The Chinese company angling to buy a 50 per cent stake in the Kalgoorlie super pit has reportedly dropped the $US1.3 billion bid due to more rigid Chinese controls on capital outflows, while its bid to buy Southern Cross gold mine owner Hanking Australia has been completed.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has made a sluggish start to the year, with first-quarter shipments and production of iron ore affected by bad weather in Western Australia.

The dramatic fall in the price of iron ore since the start of March could punch a $1.4 billion hole in the state's finances in the next financial year.

Investment group Zeta Resources has announced plans to make an all-cash takeover offer for gold-focused Bligh Resources, competing with Saracen Mineral Holdings which had agreed to buy the target's core asset in February.

Dacian Gold has formally awarded GR Engineering Services a $107.1 million contract to build processing infrastructure at its Mt Morgans gold project near Laverton.

Lithium Australia is pushing ahead with its takeover plans for Lepidico, extending the deadline by two weeks despite only a small portion of the target's shareholders taking up the offer so far.

ANALYSIS: Several factors are combining to reshape the future options for titanium minerals and zircon miner Iluka Resources.

Northern Minerals plans to spend $56 million developing a pilot plant for its Browns Range heavy rare earths project in Halls Creek, with first production expected next year.

Shares in mineral sands miner MZI Resources were higher on news one of the company's existing offtake partners had agreed to take additional leucoxene product from its Keysbrook mine near Serpentine.

Eastern Goldfields has announced a $28 million capital raising and share sale facility as it works towards commissioning of its Davyhurst gold operation near Kalgoorlie.

South32 has scrapped its $US200 million purchase of a NSW coking coal mine after deciding against making what it called significant concessions to gain approval from the competition watchdog.

A day after the Takeovers Panel put restrictions on the voting power of a group of shareholders in Indiana Resources, the same group has withdrawn plans to seek a board restructure vote at an upcoming general meeting.

A local subsidiary of South African company Murray & Roberts is set to be awarded an underground mining services contract for Dacian Gold's Mt Morgans project near Laverton.

Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group's shipments dropped 6 per cent in the March quarter due to heavy rainfall and port closures, the company says.

Contractor Indigenous Construction Resource Group has suffered two setbacks, with its half-owned joint venture ICRG North expected to go into liquidation owing creditors about $4 million.

Gresham Investment House-owned mining contractor Barminco has secured a $100 million credit facility and closed a $US350 million bond issue to refinance its bond debt.

Western Areas has reignited plans to upgrade its Cosmic Boy concentrator in the light of interest in nickel in the electric vehicle battery market, with GR Engineering Services to carry out the work.

Peak Resources has progressed its majority owned Ngualla rare earth project in Tanzania with the release of a bankable feasibility study today, which revealed a development capex of $US356 million ($A475 million).

Lithium Australia's $23.8 million takeover offer for lithium-focused rival Lepidico looks set to fall short, with the bidder lifting its stake to only 18.28 per cent a week out from the offer's closing date.

After locking in a $US20 million ($A26 million) debt facility agreement last week, aspiring coal miner Paringa Resources has tapped investors for $53 million to fund development of its Poplar Grove mine in Kentucky.

Mining giant BHP Billiton has rejected a proposal by hedge fund Elliott Advisors to restructure its business by shedding its dual Australia-UK listing and spinning-off its petroleum business.

An international hedge fund holding 4.1 per cent of the shares in BHP Billiton's UK-listed stock wants the global miner to scrap its dual listing in Australia and the UK and spin-off its US petroleum business for listing on the New York share market.

Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group has paid a $25,000 fine to the Department of Environment Regulation over a discharge accident in 2015.

SPECIAL REPORT: OreCorp is the latest in a string of Perth-based gold companies to complete large capital raisings this year.

Minerals explorer RNI says it has received competing proposals from credible parties for both its assets and the business as a whole.

Georgiou Group will build Tianqi Lithium's new Australian headquarters, under a deal worth $17 million with the Chinese lithium miner's head contractor, for its $400 million processing plant in Kwi

Neometals hopes to reap about $US96 million ($A125 million) from the sale of its interest in the Mt Marion lithium mine near Kalgoorlie, with the operation's joint venture partners given a pre-emptive right to buy the stake.