US judge rules against Venezuela in dispute with Rusoro

"This is a company with a business model that is extremely difficult to argue with. Franco Nevada has a diversified portfolio of high margin, cash flow producing assets principally in North America."

Giant miner Xstrata has set Sep. 7 as the day for its shareholders to vote on the $26 billion takeover by Glencore, giving the commodities trader six weeks to reach an agreement on the conditions.

Goldcorp, the world's second-largest gold miner, said expected gold production would drop 8% due to problems at Peñasquito and Red Lake.

Worries about China and the possibility of a hard landing weighed on markets and commodities.

The media is now fixated on an apparently new feature dominating the economic landscape: a "fiscal cliff" from which the United States will fall in January 2013.

Despite the recent deadly and divisive disputes over mining projects in Peru, London- based mining giant Anglo American says it hopes to begin construction of its $3 billion Quellaveco copper project in the country as soon as possible.

A previous report inferred the mineral resource estimate of the Ontario-based project to be 32,169,000 tonnes at a grade of 1.14 g Au/t, and 1.18 million ounces of contained gold.

If a recent 43-101 report proves accurate, the next round of drinks may be on controversial Vancouver gold mining promoter Frank Callaghan.

The LIBOR scandal rolls on in the UK, eagerly observed by the rest of the world.