‘Trump effect’ on resurgent Iranian mining sector close to none — analysts

The Telegraph reports Chairman John Bond and CEO Mick Davis risk being voted off the board of Xstrata after being accused of negotiating "a cosy stitch-up" with Glencore and that other major shareholders have threatened to block the deal altogether if the Swiss commodities giant does not offer a "substantial premium."

Glencore International is in talks with Xstrata to merge in a deal that would create a $80 billion rival to BHP Billiton, Vale, Rio Tinto and China's Shenhua. Here's a wrap-up of what people are saying about the birth of the globe's first vertically integrated resource giant.

The Big Picture: News Stories in Photographs, a photojournalism blog, has a segment on coal photos.

The richest woman in the world, Gina Rinehart, on Wednesday dropped $200 million in "loose change" to more than double her stake in Australian newspaper group Fairfax to add to her shares in a television channel prompting questions about the mining magnate's motivations.

Junior miner London Mining’s stocks (LON:LOND) went up almost five per cent today as the company announced two major milestones: the first shipment of iron ore from its Marampa project in Sierra Leone and the commencement of production of coking coal in Colombia.

Australia's mining machinery imports fell 62% in November and December, the biggest fall since the global financial crisis, according to one of the country's largest freight forwarders of heavy equipment.

The BC government has allowed an expansion to the Quinsam Coal Mine on Vancouver Island.

A tiny piece of coal salvaged from the Titanic has sold at an auction for 50 pounds.