The London Metal Exchange stayed largely in negative territory overnight, with lead the only one to gain ground, increasing $US20.50 to $2435 per tonne.
Copper had the biggest fall, with a $34 drop to $7391/t, while nickel declined $30 to $17,735/t and zinc fell $10 to $2477/t.
However, the Australian market gained strength on the back of employment gains in December. The Australian Bureau of Statistics today released data showing the unemployment rate fell 0.1% to 5.5% last month.
The number of people employed in December increased by 35,200 to 10.9 million, with increases in both part and full-time employment.
Mining major Rio Tinto rose $2.03 today on positive results from the fourth quarter 2009, ending the day at $79.15.
Rio Tinto released its fourth quarter 2009 operations review, which showed global iron ore production had risen 49% to a quarterly record of 61 million tonnes compared with the fourth quarter 2008.
The company’s global iron production for the year rose 12% on year to 171.5Mt, driven by strong demand from China.
Mined copper production rose 36% on fourth quarter 2008 results, with higher production across all operations, and thermal coal production rose 5%.
Aluminium production fell 3% due to cutbacks in response to market conditions, and uranium production dropped 20% on the back of lower grades at ERA.
BHP Billiton also had a good day, increasing 66c to $43.78 on no news.
The big news of the day was the shock resignation of Norton Gold Fields managing director and chief financial officer.
MD Jon Parker announced his resignation, effective immediately, and said the decision reflected “a difference in opinion regarding the strategic direction of the company at the board level”
Simon Brodie also announced his departure, resigning from the roles of co-company secretary and CFO.
The news pushed Norton’s share price down 5c to 26.5c at close of trade.
On a more positive note, Brumby Resources had the highest percentage growth today, gaining 59.4%, or 4.1c to 11c, on news of positive drilling results at its Goldsworth iron ore project in Western Australia.
Fellow iron ore explorer Iron Ore Holdings gained 26c to $2.10 on the discovery of high-grade iron mineralisation at its Koodaideri South project in WA.
Things also looked good for MetroCoal, which gained 4.5c to 25c as it prepares to make a maiden resource announcement for its Bundi project.
The company obtained new drill information through data swaps with other companies, which could result in a new resource estimate, without dipping into funds raised in an IPO in December.
Newcrest Mining had the biggest real-term drop, falling 36c to $36.48 after receiving a downgrade from outperform to neutral from Credit Suisse, based on reassessment of the gold supply-demand balance.
Lihir Gold was also downgraded from neutral to underperform but remained steady at $3.34.
