Nicholas Woodroof

The shutdowns are at the company's Allan, Lanigan and Vanscoy potash mines in Saskatchewan, Canada.

The company has said that there will be a delay to the the time required to bring the Elandsfontein phosphate mine in South Africa to production.

A national ban on new open-pit mining has forced Philex Mining to delay the start of output at its Silangan copper and gold mine.

The court is demanding that Vale prove the structures at the mines are stable.

Australian copper producer Aeris Resources said yesterday it had made an offer to buy the CSA copper mine in New South Wales.