Precious metals miner Fresnillo plans to double output at its newly opened Saucito mine in central Mexico by 2015 or 2016 in a second phase of expansion, a company executive said on Tuesday. With the project and other expansion plans, Fresnillo is looking to overtake BHP Billiton, which produces more silver as a by-product from other metals, as the world's biggest overall silver producer. The company's eponymous mine is the world's largest primary silver mine which has been in near continuous operation since 1550.

Australian uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia on Wednesday reported an 84 percent drop in second-quarter production from three months earlier, blaming voluntary interruptions in production due to safety concerns on flooding, but lifted its full-year production guidance.

Reuters reports China's Puda Coal said its auditor Moore Stephens has resigned, effective immediately, and the auditor warned that audit reports for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 should no longer be relied upon. In April, the Puda stock had been halted by the American Stock Exchange after the company said it will investigate unauthorized transactions in the shares of subsidiary Shanxi Coal by Chairman Ming Zhao, alleged by an website.

Peabody Energy has teamed up with ArcelorMittal to offer $5 billion for Australia's Macarthur Coal , the world's biggest producer of pulverised coal, as demand for steel-making raw materials intensifies. The cash offer of A$15.50 a share represents a 40-percent premium to Monday's close and comes just a day after Australia unveiled a plan to tax carbon emissions from the nation's worst polluters, or about 500 companies, including coal miners.

Chile's Codelco on Monday sought to avert a 24-hour strike by workers demanding a bigger say in the restructuring of the world's top copper miner, the company's top executives said on Monday.

The end of Federal Reserve emergency cash is unlikely to derail gold's 10-year rally, but the precious metal might face a rockier road as the cheap money that had fueled its ascent dries up, at least for now.

Jun 29 (Reuters) - Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange hit its highest in nearly two months on Wednesday at $9,280 a tonne as the euro rallied on optimism Greece will be able to avert a default, after its parliament backed an austerity bill.

Belarusian Potash Company, the agent for Uralkali and Belaruskali, has sold potash to two Chinese fertiliser importers at prices $70 a tonne higher than in the first half.

Stanbic Bank, a unit of South Africa's Standard Bank Group, Ghana said on Wednesday it had closed 3-year a $60 million senior revolving loan with Gold Fields' unit in the country.

Jinchuan Group Ltd., China's dominant nickel producer, may be the secret bidder for South African miner Metorex , the Business Day reported on Wednesday. Metorex, attractive due to its copper and cobalt operations in Africa, said earlier this month it had received an interest from another unnamed party after an earlier $1.1 billion bid from Brazil’s Vale .

Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands Corp said it increased its net resource volume by 10 percent and raised its capital expense to drill more wells.

“BHP (Billiton) , Rio Tinto and Xstrata were able to avoid most of this tax because they were all in the room […]