CHARTS: Maybe India can ignite new commodity supercycle

Strikes are looming in South Africa's gold and platinum sectors which could threaten global supplies at a time when commodity prices are red hot. South Africa's powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Wednesday wage talks with the country's main gold miners were deadlocked and it was preparing for a strike.

Gov. Pat Quinn has signed legislation that could lead to the construction of a new "clean coal" plant in Chicago that converts coal to natural gas. Quinn signed the bill Wednesday at the site of a former steel mill on Chicago's southeast side. Image of Gov. Pat Quinn is from Wikipedia

Pan Asia Corporation Limited is pleased to announce that it has now executed a formal agreement with leading underground mining group KOPEX to undertake a Final Feasibility Study on the TCM Coal Project in South Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Reuters reports China's Puda Coal said its auditor Moore Stephens has resigned, effective immediately, and the auditor warned that audit reports for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 should no longer be relied upon. In April, the Puda stock had been halted by the American Stock Exchange after the company said it will investigate unauthorized transactions in the shares of subsidiary Shanxi Coal by Chairman Ming Zhao, alleged by an website.

Macarthur Coal shares soared almost 40 per cent after Peabody Energy's near $5 billion takeover bid, providing a stock price boost to others in the Australian coal sector. The shares closed up $4.06, or 36.64 per cent, at $15.14 on Tuesday, Macarthur's highest finish since late April.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has hailed a takeover bid for a Queensland coal mine as proof her carbon price package won't kill off the sector. US energy giant Peabody Energy Corp is making a second tilt for Macarthur Coal within 14 months, this time through a $5 billion bid in tandem with the world's largest steel maker, ArcelorMittal.

Pimps man the park across from the historic Ulan Bator Hotel, popular with foreigners. They are keeping an eye on their employees -- about 20 women working in Mongolia's quickly expanding sex trade. Image by Tomascastelazo

Peabody Energy has teamed up with ArcelorMittal to offer $5 billion for Australia's Macarthur Coal , the world's biggest producer of pulverised coal, as demand for steel-making raw materials intensifies. The cash offer of A$15.50 a share represents a 40-percent premium to Monday's close and comes just a day after Australia unveiled a plan to tax carbon emissions from the nation's worst polluters, or about 500 companies, including coal miners.

Australia's powerful coal mining industry warned it was being unfairly singled out under the country's new carbon emissions trading scheme, predicting it will lead to job losses and fewer collieries at a time when buyers are paying top dollar for coal.