Billion-dollar Alberta coal company goes bankrupt

Goldsource Mines shot up 28% today on news that it has increased indicated coal resources at its Border Coal Project by 48%.

A legal clash between Brazilian mining giant Vale (NYX:VALE) and Australia's Aquila Resources (ASX: AQA) has taken a step towards resolution this morning after the companies announced they’ve reached an agreement on coal shipments from their co-owned Isaac Plains mine in Queensland.

Mining has all the elements that make for a good movie: long odds, adventure, conflict, danger, amazing natural scenery, and heroes and villains.

Chinese firms have been snapping up copper, uranium, iron ore and coking coal assets around the world, but have yet to make a big splash in nickel.

Coal Rush, a documentary running next week at the Atlanta Film Festival, tells the story of a 7-year crusade by US attorney Kevin Thompson, along with other attorneys, advocates and affected residents, to halt the injection of coal slurry into the Appalachian mountains by now-defunct coal miner Massey Energy.

EU regulators are stepping up scrutiny of the mooted $90 billion merger of the commodities trader and coal giant and the whole vetting process could take until early 2013. That is if the deal goes ahead at all.

The Tata Group, India's largest conglomerate, is said to be investigating a joint venture with South African coal producer Increase Coal.

None of mining's top companies escaped the carnage on Thursday after a survey of manufacturing in China showed activity slowed for a fifth straight month.

The 30% tax on iron ore and coal producers passed by the Australian government may raise the prices of those commodities but will also shrink margins of steelmakers, analysts say.