The battle for control of the TSX heated up Wednesday as both the London Stock Exchange and the so-called Maple Group Acquisition Corp.-a Canadian consortium of 13 banks, pension funds and financial service companies-raised their offers for the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Wits Gold completed shallow underground mine design comprising a 700 metre vertical shaft for men and materials and a conveyor decline for rock transport. Based on indicated resources of 34.5Mt at 5.3g/t Au (5.9Moz), the same reefs host indicated resources of 17.0Mt at 0.16kg/t U3O8 (6.1Mlb)

China's top economic planner on Thursday reiterated a ban on favourable power tariffs for power-intensive sectors as the world's second-largest electricity consumer struggles to deal with its worst power crisis in seven years. Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) asked local governments and power suppliers to cancel favourable power prices for aluminium, ferroalloy and calcium carbide makers, and said preferential power rates for direct trade between power generators and power users but without approval must be halted.

Australian coking coal producer Caledon Resources said it agreed to be bought by a Chinese investment group for 313.1 million pounds ($507 million), in a long-awaited deal which has finally met Chinese regulatory approval. China's Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co (GRAM) first approached Queensland-focused Caledon with a 112 pence per share offer in November to which Caledon agreed in principle, subject to approval from the Chinese regulators.

Brazilian miner Vale (VALE5.SA:Quote) said on Wednesday it had scrapped plans to sell stock in its fertilizer division, and would take the unit private, buying shares in the company it does not already own. Vale plans to pay up to 2.2 billion reais (US$1.4 billion) to buy out minority investors of Vale Fertilizantes, whose main asset is a stake in Fosfertil (FFTL4.SA: Quote).

The Diversified miner said Wednesday that regulators have approved a plan, that will take effect from June 27th, allowing the group to buy back as much as 6.9% of its B class shares.

Is this year's worst-performing LME metal a canary in the coal mine for copper? And is there any hope in sight for nickel prices? New York (Hard Assets Investor)

RENO, NV - In the latest issue of Metal Prospects, H. Fraser Phillips, RBC metals analyst, noted, "The copper market remains tighter than the other base metals. Inventories are relatively low, there is little excess mine capacity, and utilization rates

HIGHLIGHTS: Additional significant gold mineralisation intersected in shallow RC drilling at Spion Kop Prospect with results including:- 10m at 1.14g/t Gold (SKRC051)- 4m at 0.70g/t Gold (SKRC050)

Cap-Ex Ventures announced it has received and interpreted the preliminary data from the recently completed Airborne FALCON Gravity Gradiometer and High Sensitivity Magnetometer survey, conducted by Fugro Airborne Surveys Corp. The survey was conducted over the Company's wholly owned Lac Connelly property located in the Labrador Trough.

Geoff Burns, President and CEO of Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS: NASDAQ) has been elected President of the Silver Institute by its membership. Mr. Burns has been the President and CEO of Vancouver-based Pan American Silver since 2004.

The head of Denison Mines (DML.TO: Quote) said on Tuesday he is frustrated by the U.S. government's move to extend a ban on mining on 1 million acres of federal lands near the Grand Canyon, though the impact of the ban on his company remains unclear. In an interview with Reuters, Chief Executive Ron Hochstein said that while three of its Arizona Strip projects are unaffected, Denison is still looking into whether the six-month extension announced on Monday will have an impact on the development of its EZ Complex uranium deposits in Arizona.