Copper

World #1 nickel and palladium producer Norilsk Nickel is investing heavily in new and existing mines. The Russian mining conglomerate announced today it will spend US$10.9 billion to expand its mineral resource base including development of existing mining assets and construction and commissioning of new mines.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 9, 2011) - Strait Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:SRD) ("Strait Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding agreement (the "Agreement") with Teck Peru S.A. ("Teck Peru"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited ("Teck"), giving Teck Peru an option to earn up to a 75% interest in the Company's Alicia copper-gold property ("Alicia" or the "Property") in Peru by spending up to $30 million on exploration at Alicia or delivering a pre-feasibility study, making $500,000 in cash option payments and exercising the warrants referred to below. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 9, 2011) - Strait Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:SRD) ("Strait Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding agreement (the "Agreement") with Teck Peru S.A. ("Teck Peru"), a...

Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, will invest US$ 244 million to speed up the development of its Quetena copper deposit in northern Chile, an open pit operation that will produce 62,000 tons of fine copper per year.

Anvil Mining, a copper producer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, announced Wednesday China's Minmetals Resources has extended its $1.3 billion takeover offer for the second time, to January 11 next year. The extension comes as violence and allegations of vote rigging mar the DRC presidential election, for which full results is now only expected later this week. Anvil is also undergoing an audit of its leases with the DRC's state-owned Gecamines.

Quadra FNX Mining (TSE:QUX) is up a whopping 39% today on news of a multi-billion-dollar takeout bid. The Canadian base metals producer with offices in Toronto and Vancouver said it has agreed to have all its outstanding shares and warrants acquired by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. (KGHM) for $3.5 billion. Quadra FNX has operating mines in Ontario, Arizona, Nevada and Chile, where the company is also developing the Sierra Gorda copper-molybdenum mine. The project is a joint venture between Quadra FNX and Japanese metals producer Sumitomo Mining.

The London Metal Exchange said Tuesday it has completed a major upgrade to its electronic trading platform to cope with record volumes and high frequency trading. A takeover of the 134-year old exchange – one of the last bastions of open outcry trading – appear to be in the offing as its major shareholders jockey for position and competition from Asia intensifies. Over the last 7 years electronic trading has grown from 2% to over 70% of the LME's market volume.

Initial underground mine production has successfully commenced at Xstrata Copper’s Ernest Henry Mining operation in north-west Queensland, marking the site’s transition from open pit mining, which is now complete, to underground mining and magnetite processing. This is a major milestone in the progression of Xstrata Copper’s AUD589 million project to extend its Ernest Henry operations to at least 2024.

A new open-pit copper-gold mine in Canada's Yukon Territory would be powered with natural gas. Releasing an update today on its Casino project, Western Copper and Gold Corp. (TSE:WRN) says the company has partnered with Yukon Energy Corp., the territory's energy utility, to evaluate strategies for supplying liquified natural gas (LNG) to the mine and the Yukon.

Ecuador is not a top-of-mind country when it comes to mining, but that could change as the government signals a shift in direction towards the minerals sector, the Globe and Mail is reporting. The Globe reports that the leftist government of Rafael Correa plans to invest $3 billion in the next two and a half years in order to reduce the country's dependence on oil exports.