BHP Canada makes strategic investment in Midland Exploration

First Quantum announced that it is suspending production at its 80%-owned Kansanshi copper/gold mine in Zambia due to a labour dispute that started yesterday.

CHINESE trader Guangdong Guangxin Holdings has signed an $89 million deal to boost its interests in Australian base metals by buying a quarter of the Mineral Hill copper and goldmine in NSW and a 15 per cent stake in mine owner KBL Mining.

Imperial Metals Corporation (TSX:III) reports permit amendments for Huckleberry mine have been received. The board of directors of Huckleberry Mines Ltd. (HML) has formally approved the Main Zone Optimization (MZO) plan(1) to extend the life of Huckleberry mine to 2021.

Al Jazeera reports that metal theft in England is widespread, and a British railway authority says that metal theft has cost them milllions.

Chile's state copper company Codelco, the world's top producer, announced today that it has used its rights to exercise its disputed option to buy a 49 percent stake in global miner Anglo American's southern Chilean properties.

2011 will go down as the year when the wind fell out of the sails of economic recovery and serious storm clouds gathered on the horizon.

If 2010 was the year of rising commodity prices, 2011 was the year of The Deal.

The year of peak construction activity at Oyu Tolgoi mine in the Gobi desert of Mongolia (IM April and May issues this year) is nearing its end, with the project approximately three-quarters complete.