Frik Els , Editor

The internet is fast growing into one of the Australia's strongest economic drivers, with a new report commissioned by search giant Google showing it had contributed more than $50 billion towards the country's gross domestic product last year. That sum equates to 3.6% of the economy, putting it on par with the economic value of iron ore exports according to the survey. While impressive, the figure is still dwarfed by the sums involved in iron ore mining in Australia and elsewhere, something Gina Rinehart can attest to. Rinehart, 57, is set to become the world richest person as her wholly-owned mines go into production in a couple of years, netting her a tidy $10 billion in annual profits.

December gold futures traded at another record high hitting $1,664.50 in after hours trade on Tuesday on news that US consumers spent less in June, the first decline in more than two years. On top of that personal incomes gained only slightly and most consumers were using that money to pay off debt. Some 70% of the US economy is reliant on consumer spending therefore any belt-tightening has ripple effects across the globe. The Dow Jones blue-chip index ended down more than 2% or 266 points extending its losing streak into an eighth day – the worst performance since October 2008.

Vancouver's Mesa Exploration said on Tuesday that Utah state officials granted the company a 640-acre potash lease, sending its stock up 6.5% by the close of trade. Mesa announced the lease will be incorporated into its Whipsaw potash project in Grand County that now totals 18,608 acres or 29 square miles and where thick potash beds have been intersected in gas wells at depths between 3,300 and 4,200 feet.

Canada's Sono Resources Inc announced on Tuesday that the final $100,000 cash payment for the year has been made and that Sono will now issue the vendors 6,500,000 common shares from treasury thus finalizing its purchase of 95 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of Bonnyridge (Pty) Ltd., which is the legal and beneficial owner of three mineral license blocks located in Northwestern Botswana.

Silver Falcon Mining announced on Tuesday it had cast 17 troy ounces at War Eagle Mountain, making it the first report of precious metal smelting in over 100 years at the historic Idaho site. Stock in the tiny company rose as much as 24% on triple the usual volumes on the news bringing its gains for the year to over 72%. Silver Falcon said it will now switch focus from processing the old tailings and commence with exploration activities now that weather inaccessibility is no longer a problem.

Suriname's only commercial gold mine, the Rosebel Gold Mine which is majority owned by Canada's Iamgold, has been shut down by a strike by 1,100 workers protesting new longer shift hours. Rosebel is located some 118 kilometers south of Paramaribo (pictured), the capital of the South American nation. The mine produced 395,000 ounces in 2010 at cash cost of $484 per ounce. While Rosebel is the country's only commercially operated mine, there are believed to be thousands of small scale miners operating in the tiny, impoverished country.

Businessweek quotes a confidential report prepared for South Africa's mining CEOs as saying South Africa’s ruling party is closer to some form of nationalization than at any other time since the end of apartheid. A government takeover of mines could choke investments in a country with metal and mineral reserves estimated at 2.5 trillion and lead to a collapse of the currency, the rand. Firebrand Julius Malema (pictured), the leader of the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress which often acts as kingmaker in the country’s politics, is spearheading the campaign to seize mines, farms and banks. Malema is never far from headlines in the country with racially charged comments but now an anti-corruption police unit is probing a trust fund owned by him allegedly being used to funnel payments in exchange for securing government tenders.

African Minerals Ltd., closed up 7.1% in London on Monday after completing an investment accord with Shandong Iron & Steel Group Co bringing the counter's gains for the year to 57% and giving it a market capitalization of some $3.6 billion. Shandong will invest $1.5 billion for a 25% stake in African Minerals' massive the Tonkolili iron-ore project in Sierra Leone. Phase I of the project will cost $1.2bn and includes railway and port reconstruction in the war torn country while phase II and III will add another $8 billion to the bill. Sierra Leone, one of the world's poorest nations, is attracting increasing investments in its natural resources which also include diamonds and bauxite.

The Korea Herald reports a Korean consortium forged an agreement with Bolivia’s state-run miner Comibol over the weekend to manufacture lithium-ion battery parts, boosting Korea’s bid to tap the largest lithium deposits in the world. A research project involving extracting lithium will begin next month at Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni – an 11,000 square kilometers salt flat (pictured) – with plans for constructing lithium-carbonate processing facilities. The soft, silver-white metal is widely used in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops and electric cars and the price has been steadily increasing prompting talk of a Opec-style cartel to control production and prices among South American nations that together control 85% of the world's resources.

Gold futures lost over $16 early on Monday after US lawmakers and the Obama administration reached an 11th-hour agreement on raising the federal debt ceiling, but quickly pared the losses after data showed manufacturing activity at its lowest level in two years in the US and shrinking factory output in China. December gold initially retreated from the record settlement of $1,631.20 an ounce on Friday, trading as low as $1,608.20 before jumping back to within striking distance of record levels at the same time New York stock markets suffered a 200-point reversal, turning triple digit gains into a sharp sell-off spooked by the economic data.