Controlled Ranger Mine fire is now a conflagaration

The price of US crude oil broke through the psychologically important $100/barrel level on Wednesday after news of a pipeline deal that will relieve the oil glut in Cushing, Oklahoma, the pricing point for US crude. The US benchmark crude price West Texas Intermediate is now up more than a third from year-lows of $76 struck in early October. On top of the almost 3% move higher to $102 on Wednesday, the gap between WTI and the international benchmark price, Brent, reduced dramatically. From a record margin of $26.87 early September, WTI is now less than $10 cheaper. At the same time the discount on Western Canada Select narrowed 55 cents to $11.40/barrel meaning oil sands producers now get more than $90 per barrel for their heavy oil for the first time since June.

Alberta is poised to become a major player in Canadian mining, says The Mining Association of Canada. The Edmonton Sun reports that half of the country's $140 billion in mining activity over the next five years will be centred in Alberta, with 12 projects slated for development by 2016:

Yesterday's announcement by Australian PM Julia Gillard to consider lifting the ban on uranium sales to India is raising eyebrows at one of the country's largest iron ore producers. News.com.au reports Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) chief executive Neville Power questioning whether the proposed sales would benefit BHP's Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia: "You would wonder," Power said yesterday at Fortescue's Port Headlands wharf in Western Australia.

The Alberta oilsands and Bakken oil fields in North Dakota put on a good show 278 km above earth. Ken Paulman, writing for Midwest Energy News, conducted some cartographic detective work on a video that went viral, a time-lapse video of the earth's surface shot from the International Space Station.

Uranium Resources, a Texas-based in-situ uranium miner, says that cost increased in 3Q due to challenging drilling conditions and higher equipment costs. "This resulted in fewer than desired drilled holes and about two additional months of exploration time,” said Don Ewigleben, President and CEO of Uranium Resources in a statement. Operating expenses were $133,753 for 3Q compared with $67,260 in 2010. The overall loss from operations was $2,827,097, down from $3,730,998 a year ago when the company had a $1.37 million provision for a legal settlement.

TransCanada Corp. (TSE:TRP), the company behind the $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline project, has reached a deal with the state of Nebraska to reroute the proposed pipeline around an environmentally sensitive aquifer. The decision was announced late Monday at a news conference from the Nebraska state legislature. A bill was earlier introduced that would divert the pipeline away from the ecologically sensitive Sandhills area. Under the deal reached today, and to be voted on Tuesday, the state will pay for studies to find a new route to avoid the Ogallala aquifer which provides water for millions of people in the area.

The Australian uranium mining industry has a sympathetic ear in Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Gillard announced she will push for the ALP to dump its ban on uranium sales to India, at its national conference next month, Adelaide Now reports: Ms Gillard will ask the ALP's national conference to overturn long-standing party policy that allows uranium to be sold only to nations who have signed up to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

A Chinese mine manager who smeared coal on his face to appear to be trapped in a mine where 34 workers died has been detained by police, MailOnline reported: "After the accident, Qi (Guming) 'rushed down the shaft and smeared coal on his face to pretend he had escaped from underground,' the newspaper said. 'On Sunday the public security authority confirmed that Qi did not go down the shaft on that day, and made false claims to the rescue command office.'"

Cameco (TSX:CCO) (NYSE:CCJ) announced today that it has increased its all-cash offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Hathor Exploration Limited to $4.50 per share, which values the fully diluted share capital of Hathor at approximately $625 million.1 Cameco's increased offer will expire at 12:01 a.m. (Vancouver time) on November 29, 2011, unless further extended or withdrawn. "Cameco's increased offer to Hathor shareholders provides an attractive premium over Rio Tinto's offer and makes sense for Cameco given our unique position in the Athabasca Basin," said Tim Gitzel, president and CEO of Cameco.