Base metals snapshot: Eight companies advancing projects around the globe

An arbitrator has ruled that a "poison pill" rights plan erected by Ivanhoe to try and stop a Rio Tinto takeover, does not apply to the latter, leaving Ivanhoe vulnerable to a takeover next year.

Environmental and community groups opposed to a nickel and copper mine being constructed in Michigan's Upper Peninsula aren't giving up the fight.

Lundin Mining (TSE:LUN) said Monday that higher grades of ore and a ramp up of production is expected to boost zinc and copper production in 2013 and 2014.

Stanford University scientists have made high performance batteries using copper, not lithium, that cost less and perform better.

The Karzai administration opened bids on billions of dollars worth of copper and gold deposits in four areas of occupied Afghanistan. The Afghan Ministry of Mines invited foreign transnationals to bid on multiple contracts to unearth copper and gold...

World #1 nickel and palladium producer Norilsk Nickel is investing heavily in new and existing mines. The Russian mining conglomerate announced today it will spend US$10.9 billion to expand its mineral resource base including development of existing mining assets and construction and commissioning of new mines.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 9, 2011) - Strait Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:SRD) ("Strait Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding agreement (the "Agreement") with Teck Peru S.A. ("Teck Peru"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited ("Teck"), giving Teck Peru an option to earn up to a 75% interest in the Company's Alicia copper-gold property ("Alicia" or the "Property") in Peru by spending up to $30 million on exploration at Alicia or delivering a pre-feasibility study, making $500,000 in cash option payments and exercising the warrants referred to below. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 9, 2011) - Strait Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:SRD) ("Strait Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding agreement (the "Agreement") with Teck Peru S.A. ("Teck Peru"), a...

Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, will invest US$ 244 million to speed up the development of its Quetena copper deposit in northern Chile, an open pit operation that will produce 62,000 tons of fine copper per year.

Anvil Mining, a copper producer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, announced Wednesday China's Minmetals Resources has extended its $1.3 billion takeover offer for the second time, to January 11 next year. The extension comes as violence and allegations of vote rigging mar the DRC presidential election, for which full results is now only expected later this week. Anvil is also undergoing an audit of its leases with the DRC's state-owned Gecamines.