This document provides a summary of metals markets and major company news. It discusses the following:
- Gold prices reaching a two-year high in US and Australian dollars.
- Chinese hedge funds being linked to drops in copper prices through short selling strategies.
- BHP Billiton reporting record production for iron ore, metallurgical coal, and manganese ores, but drops in copper, aluminum, and nickel output.
- Freeport-McMoRan earmarking $17 billion for investments in its Indonesian operations, including a $2 billion copper smelter.