China's gold output reached 360.96 tons in 2011, up 5.9 percent year-on-year, according to the latest statistics from the China Gold Association.

Shenhua Shendong Coal Group Corporation produced 202 million tons of commercial coal in 2011, becoming the first 200-million-ton commercial coal production base in China.

Authorities have released the first national standards on "high pure gold," a move that is likely to boost the country's gold consumption. "High pure gold," as it is called in the standards, refers to the gold with purity of 99.999 percent, or "five nines."

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said Thursday the country's copper giant Codelco will remain state-owned in a bid to ease fears that the company will be privatized. Codelco, the world's largest copper-producing company, "belongs to all Chileans," and any attempt to privatize it was to be ruled out, Pinera said.