Key quotes from the Reuters Mining Summit

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Executives from the worlds of gold, copper and aluminum came to Reuters U.S. headquarters in New York on Tuesday for the second day of the Reuters Global Mining and Steel Summit to discuss industry trends and challenges.

Here are some of their comments.

NEWMONT (NEM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) CEO WAYNE MURDY

"I think we could be in a flat -- and I'm talking within a couple of percentages -- flat to declining production for the next 5 to 10 years."

"The exploration money is there, juniors (smaller gold explorers) are clearly moneyed up. It's a hell of a lot better than it was in 1999!"

GOLDCORP (G.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) CEO IAN TELFER

"Certainly there's a mining boom on and for the first time in my 25 years in the industry people have choices. ... We're having to improve benefits and pay real attention to what we are paying people at the operating level."

"I think all the reasons that got gold to here are still there, I think it may go dramatically past $800 but I don't think it's going to go below $500 for a long, long time."

"As far as the price of silver, I'm bullish on the price of silver as well. I mean the price of silver could triple."

FALCONBRIDGE FALlv.TO CEO DEREK PANNELL

On a three-way Falconbridge-Inco-Teck Cominco deal: "Doing a two-way is pretty complicated, doing a three-way is mind-boggling."

On the EU review of the Inco deal: "We continue to remain very positive but I've been positive for 10 months and my credibility at predicting when it's going to finish is about zero."

"I've been in the business for 37 years now and I've not seen a period where we've got as high prices as we do now for such a long period."

ALCOA (AA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) CFO JOE MUSCARI

"If you look at the first-quarter performance I think you get a pretty good idea of the high performance level the company is capable of. ... We've been working at becoming more transparent as a company."

On the auto sector: "If anything, with the increased pressure on regulations for fuel efficiency, it'll continue to offer opportunities for not only aluminum but plastics as well."  Continued...