Crowdfunding campaign established for Fort McMurray residents

Rio Tinto is cutting even more coal mining jobs in Australia as the miner is struggling with a dramatic plunge in coal prices and a high Australian dollar.

Slated reforms to China's pricing system for the carbon fossil fuel indicate that the country's leading decision-makers anticipate a sustained decline in global spot prices.

The resource of the Peace River coal project in BC jumped 180% while the percentage of met coal was upped to 60% from 35% before.

The recent upward trend is comparable to price gains after QE1 and QE2 indicating the yellow metal is likely to cross $1,900 in October and $2,200 by the start of 2013.

Both Australian trade minister Craig Emerson and treasurer Wayne Swan over the weekend entered the debate over whether the country is facing a period of decline as the country's resource-led economy loses steam.

It will be 12 to 18 months before there will even be any signs of a recovery in the eastern US coal sector says Monty Boyd, a major Caterpillar supplier for the region.

When Leily Omoumi, a gold analyst with Scotiabank in Toronto, turns her engineer's eye on a mining company, she can translate insight into profits for investors.

For the third consecutive quarter, the gold market saw net de-hedging, with the hedge book falling by 188 koz or 6 tonnes.

Diversified miner Xstrata (LON:XTA) and commodities trader Glencore International (LON:GLEN) have now until October 1 to decided on the $36 billion lauded merger.