The oil market is bigger than all metal markets combined

Late last week Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN)(NYSE:IVN)(NASDAQ:IVN) and Rio Tinto received a letter from a representative of the Mongolian Cabinet inviting the companies to discuss potential changes to the Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement. The changes related to the conditions under which the Mongolian Government may negotiate with Ivanhoe Mines to acquire, on mutually agreed terms, an additional 16% interest in the project and the application of a sliding-scale royalty to the project. In response to this letter, Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto have formally advised the Mongolian government that the companies are not prepared to renegotiate the investment agreement.

SBS World News Australia reports that Bouganville copper mine, one of the world's largest deposits of copper, could open if past combatants could be fairly compensated. The report also alleges new complicity in the conflict that cost the lives of around 15,000 to 20,000 people. The open pit mine was established in Papua New Guinea in the early 1970s by Bougainville Copper Limited, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. While operating, it accounted for 20% of the country's national budget.

Northern Dynasty's proposed Pebble Mine hears from local residents on Tuesday when the results of a referendum will be announced. Residents in southwest Alaska, the Lake and Peninsula Borough, are being asked to ban the granting of mine permits that could significantly impact salmon streams. While a successful referendum would be a set back to Pebble mine, the referendum results are not the last word. It is one of many decision points that the mine has to face. Regulatory bodies, the judiciary and other levels of government still have to weigh in.

Nautilus Minerals (TSE:NUS), a Toronto-based miner seeking to extract minerals from the ocean floor, uploaded some multimedia showing how it will mine the sea floor. The company is exploring for copper, gold, silver and zinc in seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits, equivalent to land-based volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits such as Kidd Creek in Canada. The company's main focus is Solwara 1 Project, located off Papua New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean. The mineralised zone is about 1.3 km long and up to 200 m wide. It has been drilled up to depths of 19 m below the seafloor. Water depth is approximately 1600m.

Argentina may be salivating over an abundance of natural resource riches, but getting it out from under the ground could push local water supplies to the breaking point.

Canada's mining output grew 2.9% in July, according to Statistics Canada which released its monthly gross domestic product numbers on Friday. The gains in the mining sector were attributable to more productivity after ". . . a period of production difficulties and maintenance work." Oil and gas production was down significantly, actually shrinking the output from the resource sector as a whole.

While the number of smokers in the United States has declined dramatically in recent years, miners have yet to kick the habit, says a federal study. Reuters reported Thursday on the report, which says that 30% of mining, hotel/motel and food services smoke. The study, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzed data from 2004 to 2010.

The Zimbabwe Guardian reports that at least 137 mining companies are risking losing their mining licences for refusing to comply with the country's new indigenization regulations. Affected companies include Anglo-American, Murowa Diamonds and Metallon Gold, according to the newspaper, which notes that 38 companies have complied. The government of Zimbabwe, the country with the largest platinum reserves outside number one producer South Africa, is demanding 51% of all foreign-owned mines operating in the country under its so-called indigenization laws.

Spot gold and U.S. gold futures rose 1 percent on Friday after German approval of a stronger bailout fund to counter the euro zone debt crisis.