China halts oil product exports to North Korea in November as sanctions bite

The $2.6 billion Qatari investment could provide Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg the necessary backing he needs to push through the deal which many Xstrata shareholders say sell them short.

TSX-listed Emed Mining hopes to re-open the Rio Tinto copper mines in southern Spain after an almost 30-year hiatus.

The source of the surge in mining investment has been quite diverse, reflecting the widespread advance in prices. For 2012, gold leads the way with $3.6 billion of capital spending. But not far behind are copper-nickel-zinc mines at $3 billion, potash at $2.9 billion and iron ore at $2.7 billion as the Labrador Trough is developed.

"We store significant amounts of commodities, for instance silver, on behalf of customers. We operate vaults in New York City, in Singapore and in London. Often when customers have that metal stored in our facilities they hedge it on a forward basis through JPMorgan, which in turn hedges in the commodities market," said Blythe Masters.

"Resources groups and the bankers who promote them merit close scrutiny since minerals have been linked in the past with financial scandals and market manipulation, from the nickel bubble that captivated the City in the 1960s and ended in the Poseidon crash, to the Hunt brothers’ cornering of the silver market in 1980."

BC Iron's Nullagine mine in Australia will produce another 18 months thanks to an updated mineral resource at it Bonnie East deposit.

A recent study published by Canberra-based think tank The Australia Institute calls for a slowdown in mining investment.

The commodity price cycle peaked in the third quarter of last year.

According to website VesselsValue.com the latest Valemax is worth 36% less than the $107 million the Brazilian iron ore titan paid for it last year because of a "slump in values of dry-bulk ships that were ordered before returns plunged."