CEO Nicholas Curtis says he underestimated the power of social media as local residents in Malaysia have used Facebook and Twitter to rally local and foreign opposition to the company's proposed rare-earths plant.
According to RBC Capital markets, current price weakness in the diamond sector is likely to continue, most likely into 2013, on the back of slowing growth and discrepancies between rough and polished prices.
The metal surrendered gains from Friday's session along with the euro and other commodities as a bounce lent to the financial markets by EU plans to tackle the debt crisis petered out.
Although the historic gold-silver ratio may be around 16:1 current patterns do not suggest any likely return to this level - indeed the ratio may yet get worse for silver investors.
A new independent technical report from AMEC confirms the vast tonnages and economic grades in the Duluth Metals/Antofagasta Twin Metals base and precious metals project in Minnesota.
Despite the metals for the Olympic medals being donated by Rio Tinto for free, environmentalists, unions still see the occasion as yet another opportunity for publicly castigating the mega miner.
The Aditya Birla group is looking to buy the rights to between 20% and 40% of the coal produced by Drummond's Colombian coal mines to feed its $5 billion aluminium growth programme.
