The international resource sector faces rough waters ahead according to an industry insider who has just completed a round-the-world tour of key mining regions.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have appointed a special "diamond cop" to combat the smuggling of gemstones and precious metals as the illegal trade flourishes on the back of demand from drug dealers.
With only about 21 months remaining until publicly-traded U.S. component manufacturers are forced by law to disclose their usage of conflict minerals to the federal government, the industry appears to be unprepared, says information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS).
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has accumulated vast wealth during his time in power, but reports of his $2.7 billion fortune —and the influence of his wife, Zhang Beili, the "Queen of China's Diamonds"— have been blocked in China.
Scientists have generated pressure levels one and half times greater than those found at the Earth's inner core using a specialized new double-diamond anvil.