Australia’s Clive Palmer wins court case against China’s CITIC

New York brokerage GFI's announcement on Tuesday that it now offers on-screen iron ore swap trading is the latest indication that the economics of the world's foremost dry bulk commodity are being changed fundamentally. Started in 2008, derivatives trading in iron ore is up fourfold this year after setting a record in July as investment banks enter the massive market in numbers. The world's top three miners – BHP Billiton, Vale and Rio Tinto – control nearly 70% of the 1 billion tonne annual seaborne trade and dominate price talks. The benchmark China import price for iron ore has tripled since late 2008 to $177 a tonne.

World crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association was 127 million tonnes in July 2011. This is 11.5% YoY higher than July 2010.

Robert L. Card, President of Gulfside Minerals Ltd. ("Gulfside" or the "Company"), is pleased to report that the Company has acquired, subject to TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") approval, an option to acquire three iron ore projects. The first project is comprised of 49 mineral claims located near Port Snettisham about 30 miles southeast of Juneau, Alaska. This project is a titaniferous magnetite deposit on the Snettisham Peninsula which has been intermittently explored since 1969.

Mining giant BHP Billiton has defended as "effective" its strict office etiquette policy, which bans workers from eating pungent food, throwing jackets on their chairs or leaving Post-it notes on their monitors or keyboards after hours. The company outlined its "Office Environment Standard" in a memo emailed to employees in Brisbane this month.

WA's resources sector has been issued an SOS from the nation's steel and manufacturing industries to ramp up investment in Australian products to prevent thousands of more jobs going offshore.

OneSteel Ltd has bought iron ore assets in South Australia including Peculiar Knob from WPG Resources Ltd for AUD 346 million, as it focuses more on iron ore exports.

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources, defending itself in court after awarding prospecting rights to a company linked to President Jacob Zuma’s son, will seek criminal charges against the plaintiff Sishen, part of Kumba Iron Ore, a company controlled by Anglo American. Kumba and Indian iron ore giant ArcelorMittal are asking the High Court to overturn the award of prospecting rights for the Sishen mine to Imperial Crown Trading 289, whose owners include Jagdish Parekh, a business partner of Duduzane Zuma. Kumba says it’s the only party eligible for the rights to the nation’s largest iron ore mine.

Australia's Fortescue Metals, barely four year after starting commercial mining, said on Friday its year-on-year net profit surged 76% to just over $1 billion driven by resilient demand from China. Shipments by the world's number four exporter rose only slightly to 40 million tonnes, but the price it achieved jumped 68%. BHP Billiton, the world most valuable miner, is set to report a record $22 billion in annual profit on Wednesday thanks in large part to its iron business. The stellar numbers come as global blast furnace growth over the next five years is predicted to rise by a staggering 300 million tonnes as China's construction boom continues unabated. On top of that India's iron ore exports could halve over the same period further bolstering prices that in percentage terms have outclassed even that of gold as the world economy recovered post the 2008 collapse.

China, the world's largest consumer of iron ore, aims to develop and control resources, especially in west Africa, to gain a foothold on supply and tackle the hegemony of three iron ore suppliers – Rio Tinto , BHP Billiton and Vale. Chinese firms have signed a number of iron ore deals in Africa, which at their peak could contribute nearly 250 million tonnes of iron ore when they come on stream in the medium to long term.