Fission Uranium and Denison Mines combination is off

BusinessLive reports Gold Fields, the world's fourth largest gold producer, is not averse to merger and acquisition activity but will not rely on it, said CEO Nick Holland on Monday. The company, which continues to target five million ounces in development or production by 2015, has spent the last two years aggressively growing its production.

CBC News reports a British Columbia First Nation has announced it's backing the Northern Gateway pipeline project to ship oil sands crude to the West Coast, despite fierce opposition from dozens of other groups in the area.

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.

Rio Tinto's chief executive Tom Albanese said on Saturday that he would lobby Canada to ensure it was the operator of the Roughrider uranium project in Saskatchewan, despite legal hurdles, after its successful takeover of Hathor. At the start of December, Rio emerged the winner after beating out world number one uranium miner, Canada's Cameco, with a $643 million bid for the explorer.

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.