Frik Els , Editor

Macarthur Coal, the mining group that is the target of a $4.7 billion takeover bid by US energy company Peabody Energy and steel giant ArcelorMittal, has suffered a steep slide in sales a result of wet weather. Macarthur's sales in the June quarter tumbled 22.5%, with its annual sales down 26.5% to 3.9 million tonnes. Peabody and Arcelor have sweetened the deal following a couple of failed attempts in the past three years and is set to complete due diligence at the end of the week.

Comex gold and silver futures prices closed the day session higher Monday, with August gold powering to another new all-time record high of $1,624.30 an ounce. The precious metal was lifted by the breakdown in debt talks in the US over the weekend and news that ratings agency Moody's has downgraded Greece's debt again saying default is now almost a certainty. December Comex silver also traded up $40.44 after hitting a new 11-week high early on Monday. The gold:silver ratio – the number of ounces of silver needed to buy an ounce of gold: eased back below 40.

Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. announce Monday that it has signed an Option Agreement with Titan Iron Ore Corp wherein Titan may earn 100% interest in a Globex, Labrador trough area iron exploration property in Northern Quebec. The property consists of 200 claims totalling approximately 9,160 ha (22,635 acres) and covers a 32 kilometre (19.9 miles) long magnetic anomaly which coincides with known showings of magnetite, an ore of iron.

The value of mergers and acquisitions in the mining sector more than doubled to $96.3 billion in the first six months of the year and could top $200 billion for the whole of 2011 says a new research report. Canadian companies – both as acquirers and as the targets of buyers – dominated corporate finance activity in the first half shaking on more than a deal a day and at 325 deals accounting for almost two-thirds of all the metals and minerals transactions carried out around the world.

Indian Express reports Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, currently holidaying in Mauritius, is among a slew of politicians, many of them from the BJP party, set to be named in a damning 8,000-page report on the illegal plunder of the Indian state’s iron ore resources over a decade. The report from the Lokayukta, an anti-corruption ombudsman organization, may lead to so called President's rule in Karnataka when a state legislature is dissolved or suspended and the state is placed under direct federal governance and is proving to be a huge embarrassment to the BJP leadership.

Grizzly Discoveries Inc. announced on Monday it has applied for a new metallic and industrial mineral permit in Alberta along the Saskatchewan border covering approximately 4,672 hectares to add to its existing land holdings of more than 2.4 million acres for its Alberta Potash Project. Stocks in the micro-cap company was steady at 70c on Monday following the news and is worth more than double what it was at the start of 2011. Apart from potash Grizzly is exploring for gold and base metals in British Columbia and diamonds in Alberta.

Bloomberg reports BHP workers in Chile voted Sunday to extend their strike at the world’s largest copper mine. Stoppages at BHP’s Australian coal operations may resume this week. Thirty thousand South African coal mine workers including Anglo American and Xstrata employees walked off the job Sunday and may be joined by 160,000 gold industry workers. Strikes that started over the weekend are impacting output from mines of diamond giant De Beers. Workers are seeking a larger slice as global producers report record earnings: Melbourne-based BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, is expected to report full-year profits of $22.5 billion next month, almost double 2010’s net income. Xstrata may report record 2011 profit of $7.3 billion and Anglo American $7.4 billion, estimates show.

Stocks of Canadian potash juniors Allana, Passport and Western Potash all showed double digit gains for the week to Thursday as the heavyweight producers all announce significant contract price gains and their export arm appears to run out of inventories altogether. This after Bloomberg quoted the CEO of Mosaic as saying the Canpotex "cupboard is bare" and that the sensitive issue of fertilizer deliveries to India's 55 million farmers is not being discussed at the moment.

Two reports out on Thursday suggest that iron ore is far from being merely a relic of the industrial revolution and still plays a central role in the world economy and the commodities markets. Reuters reports top investment bank Goldman Sachs is preparing to enter the physical iron ore market and the FT says the so-called commodities bible – Cyclope’s World Commodity Yearbook – just published in English is a testament to how the pricing of iron ore from secretive negotiations and annual contracts to prices linked to the spot market constitutes a “true revolution”.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who has a personal fortune of some $18 billion joined with the environmental lobby group Sierra Club on Thursday in a $50 million, four-year plan to cut one-third of US coal-fired power plants. "If we are going to get serious about reducing our carbon footprint in the United States, we have to get serious about coal, " Bloomberg said. Rolling Stone reported that he was standing on a boat on the Potomac river not far from a 60-year old coal-fired power station to drive his message home.