Global Mining & Metals · SEPTEMBER 14, 2026Iron ore, met coal and steel — the dirty backbone the clean economy is bolted to.
| Iron Ore (62% Fe) US$/t | 102 | -10.0% 6M | -14.0% 1Y | 39 | |
| Coking Coal (premium HCC) US$/t | 188 | -12.0% 6M | -18.0% 1Y | 40 | |
| Steel (HRC, US) US$/short ton | 760 | -4.0% 6M | -8.0% 1Y | 45 |
What the spot price won't tell you: the shape of the futures curve (who's paying up for metal now) and where warehouse stock is heading. Figures are indicative until a live LME/CME feed is wired.
Spot trades over deferreds — the market is paying up for metal now. Tight physical, bullish tell.
SGX 62% Fe swaps (indicative)
Macarthur Minerals received an additional Programme of Work approval from WA's DMPE for proposed hematite and magnetite bulk sampling in the Central region of its 100%-owned Lake Giles Hematite Project, complementing an April 2026 PoW.
Queensland's top coal royalty rate is 40 per cent — nearly four times the Queensland Resources Council's cited global average of 12.9 per cent, and above New South Wales (10.8 per cent), the current US federal coal royalty (7 per cent), and British Columbia's net-revenue tax (2–13 per cent, and only after capital is recovered). QRC is a lobby group with an obvious stake in that comparison, but the design flaw underneath it — a price-tier royalty with no reference to cost — is real regardless of who's pointing at it.
Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) shares have roughly quadrupled from their 2025 low since the board announced in November 2024 that founder Chris Ellison would step down within 18 months — but the exit that supposedly justified the sell-off, and the recovery, never actually happened.
On 26 August 2026 the WA government and the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation both appealed the May Federal Court native-title compensation award against Fortescue. The cultural figure is reported as A$150 million; the economic-loss line is not.
The Nightly reported on 28 August 2026 that BHP is cutting roles at Mining Area C as autonomous haulage expands into MAC East. Industry sources, not the company, floated ‘up to about 10 per cent’ of a 1,596 headcount; BHP has not confirmed a number.
Champion Iron expects first commercial DR-grade pellet feed from its Bloom Lake DRPF project by the end of June 2026, upgrading roughly half of the mine's output toward 69% Fe just as steel decarbonisation lifts demand for low-impurity ore.
Queensland's 2022 progressive coal royalty, topping out at a 40% marginal rate, is now reshaping investment and production decisions across the Bowen Basin's coking-coal producers.
Three Bowen Basin coking-coal names — Vitrinite, Bowen Coking Coal and Fitzroy — have all hit the wall or changed hands in under a year, and the common thread is the price of money, not the price of coal.
The least glamorous tonne in mining bankrolls the most glamorous bets. Before you get excited about a copper growth pipeline, ask where the cash to build it comes from. The answer is usually red dirt from the Pilbara.
| Operation | Country | Owner | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Giles | Australia | Macarthur Minerals | Development |
| Pilbara (iron ore hubs) | Australia | BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue | Producing |
| Onslow Iron | Australia | Mineral Resources | Producing |
| Vulcan Complex | Australia | Vitrinite (in receivership — KordaMentha / Cor Cordis) | Care & Maintenance |
| Bowen Basin | Australia | BHP/Mitsubishi (BMA), Glencore, others | Producing |
| Carajás | Brazil | Vale | Producing |
