Frik Els , Editor

Data out this week show the likes of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan raking in record revenues of almost $1bn/month in commodity and other trading revenue. A recent study of mining mergers and acquisitions shows the proportion of financial firms – as opposed to other miners – taking over resource companies had increased fourfold. And perhaps the most significant indication that US banking practices honed in the property markets have arrived in minerals is news that star metals traders now command pay as high as $3 million/year.

On Tuesday Zambia's Finance Minister mocked Zimbabwe and South Africa for planning to forcibly raise government stakes in foreign mines, saying "the Zambian miner in 1970s was a happier miner than a miner during the period of state ownership of the mines.” Under Zimbabwe's on-again off-again indigenization policy mining companies were granted until the beginning of June to submit proposals about transferring majority ownership to locals while there are growing calls within the ruling party in South Africa to move ahead with nationalization as called for in the country's Freedom Charter.

China's exports of rare earth ores, metals and compounds, fell 11% in May compared to April and 8.8% to 23,742 metric tons in the first five months of the year compared to last year. At the same time the value of exports surged 242% to $1.6 billion, customs data supplied by Hong Kong-based Economic Information & Agency showed Tuesday. China in recent months closed or consolidated more than 35 rare earth mines and cut export quotas sparking concerns in the US and other industrial nations about access to supplies and causing a frenzy of exploration and development activity.

London-listed Gem Diamonds said in a statement on Monday that it will drill four boreholes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in partnership with VOX United, a non-governmental organisation to provide the bushmen or Basarwa living in the reserve with water. The community is locked in a bitter battle with the Botswana government which accuses them of depleting the park's natural resources, while the Basarwa say that the government is violating their rights by trying to relocate them and that their impact on the environment is negligible.

Investors piled into Ringbolt Ventures on Tuesday after the company announced that it has commenced drilling on its Lisbon Valley Potash Project in the Paradox Basin in Utah. By mid-day the small-cap exploration company was trading up 15% on Toronto's venture exchange on above average volumes. Potash was first discovered in the Paradox Basin in an oil and gas well in 1924 and in 1962, Superior Oil Company drilled the first potash at the crest of the Lisbon Valley anticline. Since 1964, potash and by product salt have been produced from the nearby Cane Creek mine, now owned by Intrepid Potash.

South Africa's Sunday Independent newspaper reports attempts by mining giants AngloGold Ashanti and Anglo American to sup with the leaders of the ANC Youth League and possibly sway them against nationalization have flopped. Both companies stand to lose substantial chunks of their assets if the league – kingmakers in the country's politics – succeeds in its push for state control of mines to become the policy of the ruling party. Amid a rebound in mining output calls are growing for majority government ownership of key industries – the union representing the vast majority of mine workers recently backed the country's Freedom Charter clause on nationalization.

The New York Times profiles Laurence Graff, whom the paper calls perhaps the biggest dealer in seriously big stones. In 2008, Graff Diamonds turned a pretax profit of $77 million on sales of $538 million, according to its chief financial officer, Nick Paine. In 2009, sales dropped to $432 million, and pretax profits to $62 million. Last year, sales were virtually flat, but pretax profits jumped to $86 million, mostly because of sales of smaller pieces with higher mark-ups. Which raises the question of how large his inventory of large stones has become.

Prices of the certain rare earths used in energy saving lightbulbs, lasers, nuclear reactors, magnets and plasma televisions more than doubled in the past two weeks as China, responsible for upwards of 95% of world supply, further tightens control of mining, trading and exports, research house Industrial Minerals said over the weekend. China in recent months closed or consolidated more than 35 rare earth mines and cut export quotas sparking concerns in the US and other industrial nations about access to supplies and causing an exploration and mine development frenzy with over 250 projects on the go worldwide.

Potential joint-venture partners have been intrigued by a hefty oil discovery Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. made by way of happy accident. Athabasca has been approached by "several" parties keen to get in on its position in the Leduc carbonate, president and chief executive officer Sveinung Svarte told Canadian Business in an interview. Worth $6bn on the Toronto bourse Athabasca is trading down close to 20% from record highs hit in March this year when the Calgary-based company announced that it acquired more than 1.0 million acres of petroleum and natural gas rights in the Deep Basin areas of northwestern Alberta from crown sales and third-parties.

Shares of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, the world’s largest fertilizer producer, are down just shy of 8% for the week after losing almost 2% in late trade on Friday despite being upgraded to a buy by analysts at TD Newcrest. Others in the sector fared even worse with newcomer Karnalyte Resources shedding 4.3% while heavyweights Mosaic and Agrium lost over 4.4% and 2.3% respectively after the US Senate on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to eliminate some $6bn in annual subsidies for the country's ethanol industry.