Frik Els , Editor

SunCoke Energy, Inc. announced Thursday the pricing of the initial public offering of 11,600,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $16 per share. The shares began trading on Thursday, July 21, 2011, on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol, “SXC” and early on changed hands above $17.

Harmony Gold Mining upgraded the resource estimate for its Wafi-Golpu project in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday increasing it by 57% to over 1 billion metric tons, making it one of the highest grade copper-gold porphyry systems in South East Asia. CEO Graham Briggs said it was a "game-changing asset" for the company and the latest drilling results bring the Wafi-Golpu deposits within sight of Freeport-McMoran’s Grasberg mine across the border in West Papua, Indonesia, which was recently hit by strikes.

When news broke Thursday last week that China was raising REE export quotas for the second half of the year, ostensibly in reaction to a WTO ruling, it was greeted with some surprise and a measure of relief by the makers of anything from iPods to lasers to stealth helicopters. But as the implications of the announcement on future pricing of the 17 elements begin to sink in some analysts are pointing out that rather than easing the pressure on manufacturers who need rare earths, China's move was aimed at cutting off at the knees development of mining projects outside its borders.

Employees of diamond mining company De Beers are set to go on strike on Friday after wage talks broke down on Wednesday. The workers follow tens of thousands of others in South Africa's coal, metals and petroleum industries who have been on strike for weeks. The strikes come at a time when the country's mining output is slowing and new investment in the industry is drying up amid uncertainty about state ownership, taxation, an ever-changing regulatory environment and corruption. A recent ranking of top global mining investment destinations that puts Alberta at the top relegates South Africa to number 63 alongside Zimbabwe, Guatamala and Venezuela.

South Africa's Environmental Affairs department on Wednesday defended granting Coal of Africa approval to resume construction at the controversial Vele opencast project near Mapungubwe, saying science, not emotion, was behind the decision. Mapungubwe is a World Heritage site and home of the golden rhino figurine (pictured) that dates back to around 1000 AD when Southern Africa's earliest kingdom flourished. Construction of the mine were halted in August last year when it was discovered the Australian company did not comply with aspects of environmental management laws.

Thunder Bay-based Zenyatta Ventures has ended its dispute with Constance Lake First Nation after the leadership of the 1,470-strong community decided to no longer pursue a motion of injunction against the junior explorer in exchange for better co-operation and preferential job opportunities. Zenyatta can now advance its Albany project south of the so-called Ring of Fire in the James Bay lowlands where it is exploring for nickel and platinum group metals with a purported value in excess of $1 billion.

Interfax reports a few dozen people protested Tuesday outside Romania's Culture Ministry in Bucharest against its approval of the archaeological discharge certificate for the Carnic Mountain, where extensive tunnels used by Roman miners during the rule of emperor Trajan (pictured) still exists. Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, controlled by Canada's Gabriel Resources which first obtained the concession in 1999, needed the permit for its project to establish an open-cast mine in the area believed to hold some 300 tonnes of gold, one of the largest deposits in Europe.

Alberta should establish an independent agency to monitor the environmental impact and pollution from oil sands development, an independent panel told the provincial government in a report released Tuesday. The Alberta Environmental Monitoring Panel was formed in January under pressure from environment groups when questions emerged over the quality and comprehensiveness of environmental reporting on the oil sands. Canada's oil sands also come under fire recently when it was revealed that the federal government deliberately excluded data indicating a 20% increase in pollution in a climate change report to the UN.

Oilsands Quest stock was trading down around 15% in early afternoon trade on Tuesday after the company announced it was hoping to raise $60 million in a rights offer to advance its flagship Axe Lake oil sands project in Saskatchewan. The company is offering existing shareholders 300 million rights at a 40% discount to the share price last Friday, a day on which Oilsands Quest rocketed more 61% on 10-times usual volumes after Saskatchewan converted its Axe Lake permits to 15-year leases. The company has been forced to raise money and go it alone after a fruitless 11-month quest to find a strategic partner.

When a 4.5% jump in stock price with 15 million shares changing hands on news of the acquisition of three new concessions is considered a dull trading day then you know you're dealing with a volatile stock. Portage Resources has gone from 2c to 65c a share in the matter of three months but the Peruvian explorer has certainly not been a one-way bet – the stock's 52-week high is $1.24. The company based in Miraflores, Lima (pictured) has been snapping up silver properties in Peru, but after announcing silver reserves worth $2.3 billion at one of them the stock has been unstoppable.