Rio Tinto sells $3.5bn stake in Grasberg mine to Indonesian state miner

Swiss miner Xstrata (LON:XTA) is delaying the commercial production of its $5.9 billion Tampakan copper-gold project in the Philippines to 2019, Sagittarius Mines Inc, the firm's local unit, said Wednesday.

London-based explorer Stratex (LON:STI) got an early Christmas present this year, as Canadian Centerra Gold (TSX:CG) paid the junior and partner in the Turkey’s Oksut project a noteworthy $40 million for its 30% stake in the venture.

Spoils of the country's resources bounty will be better distributed as the mining sector enters an operational phase

February is the best month to hold the precious metal

Holdings of non-Western central banks forestall sharp correction in gold

Vale's Carajas iron ore mine is the biggest but some 60 gold explorers are also active in the Brazilian region.

A shareholder has this morning filed a court petition against Vancouver-based Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX-V:BGM), which has attracted market and regulator skepticism in recent months over an alleged massive gold discovery.

Miners who don’t show up to work the Christmas and New Year period at Sandfire Resources’ DeGrussa copper and gold mine in Western Australia, are being threatened with major fines and pay cuts.

Glencore has extended the deadline to complete takeover of Xstrata (LON:XTA) by a month after South African power utility Eskom expressed worries about its coal supplies.