BHP Mackenzie calls US Congress to lift four-decade ban on oil exports

Forbes reports billionaire investor George Soros is placing a very particular bet on gold by buying $40 to $50 million in shares of a Chinese jeweler ahead of its $2.8 billion IPO. Founded in 1929 Chow Tai Fook is bigger than Tiffany's and is named after founder Chow Chi Yuen and “Tai Fook” means fortune, prosperity and luck in Chinese.

The Philippines will offer 30 coal exploration projects in the central and northern provinces, where mining is not yet banned that may need total investments of $600 million at a tender to be held in the first quarter of 2012.

Coin Update reports for November 2011, sales of the United States Mint’s most popular gold and silver bullion coins fell to their lowest monthly levels in years after first slowing down in October. Sales of the one ounce American Silver Eagle coins were 1,384,000 for November, down by more than 50% from the previous month and down by nearly two-thirds from a year ago while the American Gold Eagle coin sales totaled 41,000 ounces for November 2011, down from 50,000 ounces in the previous month, and down more than half last year's monthly sales.

Canada is reviewing a policy that restricts foreign ownership of uranium mines, but there has been no decision on revising those rules at this time, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said on Friday.

A group of First Nations in British Columbia says it will do “whatever means necessary” to stop exports of crude oil from Alberta’s oilsands through their territories — including the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway oil pipeline.

London-listed Churchill Mining Plc is threatening Indonesia to seek international arbitration, saying that the company was unlawfully deprived of a US$1.8 billion coal discovery in the jungles of Borneo Island. The East Kutai project is a huge resource with a JORC compliant estimate of 2.7 billion tonnes of coal, acquired by Churchill in 2007 through an acquisition of a 75% stake in Indonesian group Ridlatama.

Gold hit a 2-week high on Thursday as gains in equities and the euro prompted buying from speculators after major central banks took coordinated action to prevent the euro-zone debt crisis from igniting a global economic meltdown.

Kalahari Minerals (LON:KAH) and Extract Resources (ASX:EXT) were both up slightly today after the companies announced they have received a mining licence for their Husab uranium project in Namibia. London-listed Kalahari has a 42.7% stake in Extract. Kalahari said in a press release that the mine lease, valid for 25 years, will allow the project to move into production and establish Husab as one of the three largest uranium mines in the world. The company states the mine would produce 15 million pounds of U3O8 per year through open-pit mining. The deposit has a resource estimate of 500 million pounds U3O8.

The Denver Post reports that Federal officials in Commerce City, Colorado are trying to contain contamination in the South Platte River near one of Suncor Energy's refineries. What material is leaking and where it is actually coming from is still to be determined. The EPA has emergency response crew working on the scene. Booms and barriers have been set up to contain the spill, which was first reported on Sunday.