State-run NTPC Ltd, India's largest power utility, is considering a 25-year coal import deal, its chairman said on Friday. The company will also invite bids in the next few days for 4 million tonne coal import, and is aiming to expand its local coal coal mines portfolio.

Australian mining explorer Cape Lambert Resources is seeking to list its Marampa iron ore project in Sierra Leone by the end of 2011 to raise as much as $500 million, as Chinese backing for the larger Tonkolili development nearby supports its plans.

At the beginning of the week, commodity markets the world over were eying the Euro summit. At MCX, speculations of a failure saw precious metal prices rise whereas the base metals and energy went down. As the week went by, the concerns abated seeing the

State government is putting in place RFID tags, smart cards to regulate movement of ore traffic.Exports of iron ore from Karnataka are likely to be delayed by over three months, as the state government is yet to put in place the infrastructure.

Brazilian iron-ore company Minerinvest Mineracao Ltda. is negotiating a joint venture with a European steelmaker and a European bank to mine two iron-ore deposits in Brazil's Minas Gerais state, a local partner to Minerinvest said.

Supplies in the U.S. copper scrap market remained tight at the start of the third quarter, as a lingering slump in industrial demolition rates made material, especially higher-grade material, harder to come by.

China's coal output will grow rapidly this year to a total of 3.88 billion tons, according to Dong Yueying, deputy director of economic operations from China Coal Industry Association. Currently, China's coal output generally meets demand, as coal-rich

South Korea's June coal imports declined 2 percent to 8.50 million tonnes from 8.69 million tonnes a year earlier, data from Korea Customs Service showed on Friday.

Spot iron ore prices extended gains on Friday, driving a key global index to near two-month peaks, as steel mills in top producer China continued to restock the raw material in anticipation of strong steel output and demand.

The Goa government has asked neighbouring Karnataka to lift the ban on supply of iron ore across its borders, after industrial units in various parts of the coastal state faced a severe shortage of the mineral.

China, until recently a net exporter of coking coal, is set to become the world's biggest importer of the steelmaking ingredient by 2015, causing "dizzying" upwards pressure on prices, a Brazil-based coal industry consultant told Dow Jones Newswires.

Pan Asia Corporation Limited is pleased to announce that it has now executed a formal agreement with leading underground mining group KOPEX to undertake a Final Feasibility Study on the TCM Coal Project in South Kalimantan, Indonesia.