"It's not a question of saying we'll be doing that from tomorrow. It's an issue being discussed with the companies," Finance Minister Mustafa Mkulo told Reuters on the sidelines of IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington.

The Mongolian government is "discussing" possible changes to a 2009 investment agreement for its massive copper-gold deposit at Oyu Tolgoi, media reports quoted the country's Finance Minister S. Bayartsogt as saying on Tuesday.

The project is part of ongoing negotiations between Guinea and CPI over the potential development of a bauxite mine in Boffa and construction of an alumina refinery and deepwater port, sources have said.

U.S. crude CLc1 shed 12 cents to $90.09 a barrel after touching $90.52 on Tuesday, the highest intraday price since Aug. 4. Brent crude LCOc1 climbed 38 cents to $112.27.

The board of the world's top aluminium producer UC RUSAL said on Monday it had unanimously rejected a $8.75 billion offer by mining giant Norilsk Nickel to buy back its shares. The $306 per share offer for a 15 percent stake, which represents a 20 percent premium to the weighted average market price for the past six months, was approved by Norilsk's board and was valid until 1400 GMT on Sept. 5. Norilsk said that it plans now to make a buyback offer to other shareholders.

Coal consumption in the US is down 2% from same week of 2010 as fronts relieve heat, generators burn cheaper gas. Missouri River flooding also slowed some coal deliveries.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel unveiled far-reaching plans for closer euro zone integration, but stopped short of increasing the bloc's rescue fund and said joint euro bonds may be a long-term solution.

"There was just a letter, that we may have to suspend coal because of commercial reasons. Since then, the letter has also been withdrawn," Chief Financial Officer J Suresh Kumar said.

Platinum and palladium producer Stillwater Mining Co's quarterly profit almost tripled, but the results fell short of Wall Street expectations and the company's stock slipped. Analysts said investors are concerned about Stillwater's plans to diversify by buying Canadian gold and copper miner Peregrine Metals. Since the $450 million deal was announced last month, Stillwater's stock has fallen 37 percent.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers said no progress was made in talks on Monday with the Chamber of Mines to end a strike against the country's main gold producers. The talks were set to resume on Tuesday. The strike of some 100,000 workers in the world's fourth largest gold producer is costing mining companies up to $25 million a day in lost output. The workers at those mines downed tools on Thursday. (Image of 1941 postage stamp depicting mining around Johannesburg by Igor Golovniov / Shutterstock.com)

South African gold miners are gearing to join tens of thousands of workers seeking pay rises in widening strikes, threatening to hurt output at a time when bullion is at record highs.

Xstrata, the fourth-largest global diversified miner, had reported a drop in copper output in the first quarter, hit by severe weather conditions at its Collahuasi mine in Chile.