Hot on the heels of a lacklustre listing by Swiss commodities and mining behemoth Glencore, news comes of another multi-billion dollar natural resources IPO going awry. Resourcehouse planned to raise $3.6bn on the Hong Kong market on Thursday but has now postponed the listing to at least the end of the month. The Australian iron ore and coal miner has made three previous attempts to go public in 2009 and 2010.

World number one fertilizer company Potash Corp, received a fillip from S&P on Wednesday after the ratings agency upped the company’s rating to stable from negative and reaffirmed its investment grade corporate credit rating of A-. S&P believes Potash Corp. will benefit from strong fundamentals in the potash business and from the fact that its mines are considered low cost and have long reserve lives. Potash Corp, worth some $46bn on the stock market, has attracted renewed interest from investors on the back of rising global food prices, record earnings at the company, and after a hostile takeover bid was scuppered by the Canadian federal government in November last year.

To support training programs and fend off a future skills shortage, Queensland will be providing up to two-million-dollar grants for industry groups and individual companies.

The Premier said the Skills Queensland Strategic Investment Fund would have A$50-million provided by the state government each year, along with the complementary funding contributed by industry. The fund was aimed at plugging skills gaps and at supporting growing industries like mining.

With stronger balance sheets, improved credit availability and stabilizing metal prices, PwC Tuesday forecast the recovery in global metals M&A is expected to continue for the balance of this year. Iron ore targets were the primary driver of global metals M&A activity during the first quarter of 2011, contributing almost 40% of the deals worth a total of $5.1 billion, a significant increase over full-year 2010 when iron ore represented only 20% of total deals.

Thelon Capital Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:THC)(FRANKFURT:TFHC) is pleased to announce that it has, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Clear Fork Mining, signed a second lease agreement with a private contractor to mine a second 600-acre section of its Jellico Coal Project, known as Miller Mt. It is scheduled to start production in calendar 2012. This mine site is projected to produce an average of 20,000 tons per month for approximately 7-10 years. Under the terms of the lease, Thelon Capital Ltd. will receive the greater of $7 per ton royalty or ~9% of gross sales price of the Coal. Thermal Coal is currently selling for $90 per ton and Blue Gem Coal is currently selling for $185 per ton.

Data Explorers reports the prediction of recovery of the uranium sector. The market news is quoted as saying: The Fukushima disaster caused the largest fall in the price of uranium for two years, yet a floor may have been reached as aggressive nuclear plans announced by China and India will double global uranium production, according to Bloomberg.

The executive chairman of private company Direct Nickel Julian Malnic told the Resources & Energy Symposium in Broken Hill in New South Wales that the company was currently moving to raise $A15 million ($US14.7 M) to utilise an ASX-listed shell company for listing.

Reuters reports on Tuesday Russian diamond monopoly Alrosa may use the spoils of high diamond prices to develop an asset in northwest Russia rather than let a foreign miner such as Rio Tinto onto its territory, a source close to the company said. The source said on Tuesday high diamond prices meant Alrosa had enough cash to finance development of the Sevalmaz project by itself. Russian business daily Vedomosti reported in December that it could sell a 49% stake to the global miner for almost $400 million.

The Israeli Diamond Industry website reports the governor of Zimababwe's central bank is proposing that the country sell its diamonds to fund a gold-backed currency to replace the defunct Zimbabwean dollar, which was suspended due to hyperinflation. The Antwerp-based Diamond High Council estimates that Zimbabwe will become the largest producer of diamond in the world by 2013, with an expected volume of 40m carats per year worth some $2bn annually from the rich deposits in Marange. Zimbabwe is currently the subject of an international ban on the export of its diamonds.