Didn't Get The Memo: Miners Keep Up Cap-Ex

The world's largest mining companies are planning to spend over $244 billion on expansions to 2015, mostly on project expansions, reports Bloomberg Television's “The Pulse.”

UK Gold Price data by YCharts

Despite Glencore Xstrata's (GLCNF) CEO Ivan Glasenberg's recent call for austerity in the industry to end an oversupply in mineral markets, top miners are reportedly set to spend only 2.4% less than in the previous three years.

In Australia, home of giant mining companies BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO), business investment rose last quarter driven by strong mining spending, according to the Bureau of Statistics.

“The capital spending numbers confirm mining investment isn't headed for a sharp decline in coming quarters,” Katrina Ell, an economist at Moody's Analytics in Sydney, was quoted as saying last month.

After shelving projects worth about $68 billion last year, BHP —the world's No.1 mining company— decided in August to go ahead with a $2.6 billion investment in its Jansen potash project in Canada.

And Rio Tinto, the world's second biggest producer of sea-traded iron ore after Brazil's Vale (VALE), is injecting a further $5 billion into its Australian operations to take annual capacity to 360 million tonnes.

Cecilia Jamasmie, a contributing editor at YCharts, is an editor at MINING.com. She can be reached at editor@ycharts.com. Read the RIABiz profile of YCharts. You can also request a demonstration of YCharts Platinum.