Gold edged up on Friday as investors used bullion to shelter from the storm engulfing financial markets on concerns that the United States may be facing another recession and Europe's debt crisis is spreading to some of its largest economies.

Graph with stacks of Australian dollars * World stocks on track for worst week since August 2010 * Threats of Spanish downgrade, U.S. default, data weigh * Safe-haven Swiss franc, gold, Treasuries rally (Updates prices, adds comment, details) By Wanfeng

Namibia's Chamber of Mines wants the government to reconsider plans to impose a further 17 percent tax on exploration and mining firms in the southern African producer of diamonds and uranium, saying it would discourage investors.

Western Japan's electricity supply will fall 1.2 percent short of forecast peak demand for August, as five regional utilities' efforts to boost supply could not offset unplanned shutdowns this month of a nuclear reactor and a coal-fired plant, Japan's trade ministry said on Wednesday. Image of Fukushima Daiichi NPP in 2002 is from KEI. 

Fluor Corp said on Wednesday it won a contract from Quadra FNX Mining Ltd for work on its new Sierra Gorda copper and molybdenum project in Chile. Fluor said it booked $1 billion for the project in the Atacama Desert in the second quarter, and its work will include providing engineering, production and construction management services for the mine's processing plant.

Copper hit a three-month high on Friday as concerns about demand from top consumer China receded and supply disruptions reinforced expectations of potential shortages this year. However, traders expected subdued trading ahead of a monthly jobs report from the United States, the world's largest economy, later on Friday.

State-run Petrovietnam has awarded two contracts worth a combined $1.2 billion to two subsidiaries to build a 1,200-megawatt, coal-fired power plant, which will boost its thermal coal imports from Indonesia and Australia, the government said. Vietnam has also licensed Malaysia's Jaks Resources Berhad to invest $2.25 billion to build a coal-fired power plant in northern Vietnam, using

Singapore's Nava Bharat Pte plans to start construction of a 300 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Zambia by the end of 2011 and complete it by 2014, company director Ashwin Devineni said on Saturday. "We have finalised the detailed layout of the power plant initially for 300 MW and later for an additional 300 MW," Devineni said in a statement.

* Copper hits two-month high * Copper stocks fall for sixth session (Updates after U.S. data) By Melanie Burton LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - Copper h it its highest in two months on Thursday , supported by investors' greater appetite for risky assets

POSCO, the world's third-biggest steelmaker, is not in talks with Sundance Resources over the latter's $4.6 billion iron ore project in West Africa, a POSCO source said. "We previously met Sundance Resources (on the project) but are not currently in talks with the company on it," the source told Reuters, declining to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Sundance Resources has shortlisted potential partners for its $4.6 billion iron ore project in West Africa, it said on Wednesday, sending its shares up as much as 6 percent.

The proposed Oakajee iron ore port and rail project in Australia, which last week faced the loss of a key customer, may have hit another snag, with one the two developers saying it was having problems raising funding. Murchison Metals , a 50:50 partner in the multi-billion dollar Oakajee (OPR) project, said on Monday it was now in talks with several parties, including Chinese-related investors, interested in participating in its development.