Glencore shares soar on faster than expected debt reduction

There's a new appetite for equity financing in the global mining sector, as investors tiptoe back into a market that has fretted about funding for the last six months. Boosted by firm metals prices and a less pessimistic outlook for a still-fragile global economy, many mining companies are again able to sell shares in secondary offerings or tempt investors with an initial public offering.

Last week gold registered its worst weekly performance for 2012 after a sustained rally in January and most of February. This week would be a crucial test for the yellow metal and a significant break below the $1,700 level could trigger a major sell-off.

Illinois' Prairie State power station is on the brink of production and the $5 billion coal-fired plant will supply electricity to 2.5 million households for at least the next 30 years.

Xstrata plc is in talks with Japanese electricity producers to settle the next thermal coal benchmark price for annual supplies starting April 1 at between $115/tonne and $126/tonne, according to Bloomberg News.

A new survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit finds when institutional investors interested in frontier markets were asked to choose two regions out of five, two-thirds see Africa – projected to be the fastest growing region on the planet this year – as holding the greatest opportunity.

Cameco Corp. (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ), Canada’s largest uranium company, said it agreed to buy Areva Resources Canada’s 27.94% stake in the northern Saskatchewan-based Millennium project for $150 million. With this acquisition Cameco becomes the majority holder in the proposed uranium mine.

A group of twelve major Canadian oil sands producers, including some of the world's biggest energy companies, have reached an agreement to share unlimited information on environmental technologies, which sweeps away several intellectual property rights.

In a move seen as a clear attempt to build popularity, former U.S. president Bill Clinton called Americans to embrace TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, only three days after the Calgary based company announced it was going ahead with the construction of the southern leg through the States.

Australian coal producer New Hope Corp will not put itself up for auction for more than $5 billion after a five-month sale process failed to come up with a deal, Reuters reported.