Frik Els , Editor

After the market close on Monday Oilsands Quest announced it is cancelling a $60 million rights offer that only two weeks ago it extended for a second time. The embattled firm's shares spiked higher 22% to 25c, five cents above the offer price, in after-hours dealings following the news. Oilsands Quest said it was working with a third party on a deal that would "change the company's financial position and funding requirements," but has not ruled out a new rights offer. Investors in the AMEX-listed firm have been on a bumpy ride. The stock is down some 70% from its January highs of 64c and gained 63% in a single day after Saskatchewan granted the company 15-year leases, the first in the province. But recent investors can feel smug about the fact that they did not buy into the junior during the frothy 2006 market – the counter hit a peak of $7.76 in March that year.

London copper prices rose 1.3% to $8,869.50 a tonne n Tuesday on reports that China could bolster Italy's flagging economy by buying its bonds. In the previous session, copper – considered a good indicator of economic activity – was dragged to a one-month low after Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest producer, said some of its clients in the United States and Europe have asked to cancel orders. Italy has asked China to make "significant" purchases of Italian debt, the Financial Times reported on its website on Monday, saying that the chairman of China Investment Corp, headed up a delegation to Rome last week. Meanwhile Greek workers threatened to sabotage a new property tax, a last-ditch effort by the government to please international lenders and the US treasury secretary flies to Poland to meet with EU finance ministers on the Greek crisis.

Bloomberg reports gold may decline to below $1,700 an ounce in September before climbing to an all-time high of $2,000 in October as the metal extends its longest rally in at least nine decades, according to technical analysts. The Wall Street Journal reports market participants expect volatile trading in gold to continue this week, as traders look to what may be contentious debate on US President Barack Obama's proposed jobs and infrastructure program and as traders take positions ahead of the meeting of the Federal Reserve's policy-making committee next week.

Shares in China-focused miner Silvercorp Metals slumped over 7% on Monday after British Columbia security regulators said they were joining the investigation into an anonymous letter accusing the company of a $1.3 billion fraud. Silvercorp was forced on Friday 2 September to make public the letter and at the same time disclosed that someone had built up a short position of 23 million shares – more than 13% of the number outstanding. The firm with projects in China and Canada plunged after the news broke and Monday's drop brings year to date losses close to 40% despite the firm's ongoing buyback programme.

The Australian reports BHP Mitsubishi's decision to bypass a thoroughly resistant troika of unions by seeking a direct employee ballot on a new three-year enterprise agreement takes the world's number one miner into deeply uncharted industrial relations waters. The move comes after nine months of fruitless negotiations and 11 different offers – including annual pay rises of 5% and a $15,000 bonus – all of which were rejected by the unions which will now resume strikes. The six mines operated by BHP Mistubishi have a combined output capacity of more than 58 million tonnes per year of mostly metallurgical coal, representing about a fifth of annual global trade.

Gold for December delivery – the most actively traded contract – fell 2.4%  or $45, to $1,815 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange by lunchtime on Monday failing to capitalize on its safe-haven status as investors were forced to raise cash to cover losses on equity markets. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered another day of heavy selling, declining more than 120 points in volatile trade while European and Asian markets were battered after the deputy finance minister of Greece said the debt-laden country has cash to operate only until next month. Germany was readying measure to protect its banks against a Greek default while France's financial institutions were downgraded because of its exposure.

Stornoway Diamond Corporation involved in the discovery of over 200 kimberlites in seven Canadian diamond districts will join S&P/TSX SmallCap Index at the end of the week, a move which should increase the appeal of the counter among institutional investors. It's a new milestone for Stornoway which flourished under the leadership of Eira Thomas, the renowned diamond explorer whose spectacular success in the 90s transformed Canadian diamond mining. Thomas left in August following the acquisition of Stornoway's lead asset – the 100%-owned Renard Diamond Project – on track to become Quebec's first diamond mine.

Alaska's Pebble deposit presents big problems for Northern Dynasty, the junior Canadian miner that wants to cash out of its sole asset. Pebble has an eye-popping recoverable resource of 67 million ounces of gold and 55 billion pounds copper with some molybdenum thrown in for good measure which at today's prices is worth over $300 billion in total. The Vancouver company shares the venture with Anglo-American but the $4.7 billion development costs could be too rich even for the London-listed giant's blood. Apart from the problem of finding a heavyweight buyer for its 50%, Dynasty also faces opposition from a $150 million a year salmon fishery near the site and local environmental protesters who have enlisted the support of Hollywood celebrities like Robert Redford.

Reuters reports prices of most rare earth elements – used in consumer electronics, defence and green energy industries – have risen since Wednesday after of local government crackdown on mining, with three major producers slated for closure. The news follows an announcement from the EU that it is building a stockpile of a variety of REEs and that a high-level meeting of officials from Europe, the US and Japan will take place in Washington early next month to discuss supply security. The price of some REEs such as samarium oxide used in jet fighter electrical systems has increased 25-fold in just three years.

Authorities in Belgium are investigating a case that may turn out to be the country's largest ever fraud. De Tijd this week published some of the names from a list of 170 of Antwerp diamond traders who it claims are being investigated by authorities for spiriting almost $1 billion (€700 million) in unpaid taxes into secret Geneva bank accounts. Approximately 80% of the total world production of rough diamonds is traded by the 185 gem companies operating in Antwerp (pictured) and 50% of the globe's polished diamonds pass through the Flemish town. The Antwerp traders are among a much larger roster of at least 24,000 HSBC Private Bank clients from Canada, India and Germany under investigation by French authorities since 2009.