Mitsui mulls expanding into food, drugs sectors to offset profit drop

One protesters associated with the Radical Action for Mountain People's Survival Campaign has been arrested after climbing down from a tree platform he has been occupying at Coal River Mountain West Virginia since July 20. Becks Kolins (pictured on the left) was arrested by state police. Kolins and Catherine-Ann MacDougal climbed the trees to protest operations at the Bee Tree surface mine owned by Alpha Natural Resources, the company that bought Massey Energy following a deadly blast at one of its coal mines. McDougal says she's staying put.

Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata said on Tuesday its first half net profit jumped 27 per cent to $US2.9 billion and that it expected even better earnings for the second half. "A substantially stronger financial performance in the first half reflected growing demand for our products from emerging Asian economies and recovering Western markets," Xstrata chief executive Mick Davis said in a statement.

Businessweek quotes a confidential report prepared for South Africa's mining CEOs as saying South Africa’s ruling party is closer to some form of nationalization than at any other time since the end of apartheid. A government takeover of mines could choke investments in a country with metal and mineral reserves estimated at 2.5 trillion and lead to a collapse of the currency, the rand. Firebrand Julius Malema (pictured), the leader of the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress which often acts as kingmaker in the country’s politics, is spearheading the campaign to seize mines, farms and banks. Malema is never far from headlines in the country with racially charged comments but now an anti-corruption police unit is probing a trust fund owned by him allegedly being used to funnel payments in exchange for securing government tenders.

In late morning trade shares in Miraflores-based Portage Resources had gained more than 12% after announcing a 10:1 future stock split that would, after cancellation of some of the shares held by its CEO, bring the total number in issue to a whopping 4.45 billion. When MINING.com reported on Portage Resources a fortnight ago the counter had gone from 2c to 65c a share in the matter of three months. The explorer has been snapping up properties in Peru hitting pay-dirt with reserves of 58 million ounces of silver at one of them. Portage is a prime example of how volatile stocks in juniors miner can be: its 52-week high is $1.24 and despite Monday's 12% jump to 32c, the stock is worth half of what it was just five trading days ago.

Workers in South Africa's coal sector are expected to return to their posts on Tuesday after the unions and the SA Chamber of Mines signed a two-year wage agreement, ending an eight-day strike. 150,000 workers at miners Anglo American Thermal Coal, Delmas Coal, Exxaro Coal Mpumalanga, Kangra Coal, Optimum Coal and Xstrata Coal were on strike over wages. Talks with striking workers in the country's gold sector, where 200,000 workers are on strike continued on Monday. Mineworkers are asking for a 14% wage increase – far above the inflation rate in Africa's largest economy which hovers around the 4% level.

Two separate accidents at mines in Ukraine have claimed the lives of 37 miners, Reuters reported Sunday: Rescue work ended on Sunday at two Ukrainian coal mines where accidents killed 37, and the former Soviet republic held a national day of mourning. An explosion in a mine in the Luhansk region early on Friday killed at least 26 people and injured two, according to an updated report on the Emergencies Ministry website. Also early on Friday, 11 miners died and four were injured at a state-owned mine in the neighbouring Donetsk region when a piece of heavy machinery collapsed.

A grassroots movement opposed to coal-seam gas (CSG) mining got a boost of star power on Saturday, when 70s pop singer Olivia Newton-John panned the controversial practice. The Australian singer, who starred alongside John Travolta in the hit movie-musical Grease, launched a scathing attack on the mining industry after learning several sites near her luxury Byron Bay resort were under threat, The Sunday Telegraph reported. In an open letter to Australians warning about the health effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, Newton-John says she is "horrified to learn of the extensive plans for coal-seam gas and shale gas exploration in Australia." Image of Olivia Newton-John is from Wikimedia, by gdcgraphics.

The Tanzanian government has planned a USD 400 million uranium mining project by Australian based Mantra Resources in the Selous Game Reserve, a project that will greatly boost the country’s economy.

The most toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants can be found in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, according to a new study released by the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council and Physicians for Social Responsibility.