Lead

As the United States and its allies look back on a weekend of memorials and tributes to the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11, the country that was struck in retaliation for the 2001 attack on America could become a hotbed of mining. The National reports that Indian firms are bidding billions of dollars for a contract to mine iron ore in a central district of Afghanistan: "A consortium led by the state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) could invest up to US$6 billion (Dh22bn) in the mine, railroads and a steel plant in a race with China to lock in raw materials for two of the world's fastest-growing economies."

Peru's leftist government presented a bill to Congress on Wednesday that aims to increase mining taxes to fund anti-poverty projects.

Polish stocks are on a tear this week after a top court made a mining-friendly tax ruling. Bloomberg reports that Polish stocks climbed for a second day, with the benchmark index heading for the biggest advance in a week, as coal and copper producers jumped after the Constitutional Tribunal ruling on mining taxes: "The court ruled that mining excavations should not be considered as construction works and should be free of real-estate taxes."

Firestone Ventures Inc.(CVE:FV) reported high-grade zinc-lead-silver results from "La Luna" project, 80 km north of Guatemala City, Guatemala.

China plans to dramatically consolidate the number of mines in its country, according to Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and a study by MCCM. And China also wants its mines to be a lot more productive. Caterpillar released the results of a study in August. In 2004 China had 25,000 operating mines. By the end of 2013 China wants to get that number down to 4,000 mines. A minimum production of 300,000 tonnes per annum will be required for mine approval.

Mining investments could reach $2.8 billion in the Philippines this year if Chinese investors proceed with plans to jointly develop mining projects in the country, a senior mining official said Tuesday. There is a good chance that an initial target of $1.4 billion could be doubled if Chinese investors follow through in the last quarter on investments they have expressed interest in, Mines and Geosciences Bureau director Leo Jasareno said.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 13, 2011) - ATAC Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:ATC) is pleased to announce the final 2011 drill results from its Ocelot silver-lead-zinc discovery. The Ocelot is located within the Rau Trend in the western portion of ATAC's 100% owned Rackla Gold Project in the Keno Hill Mining District, Canada's second largest primary silver producer. The 2011 diamond drilling program consisted of 19 holes totaling 3784.75 m. The first five holes returned encouraging results near surface (see news release dated June 13, 2011).

London copper prices rose 1.3% to $8,869.50 a tonne n Tuesday on reports that China could bolster Italy's flagging economy by buying its bonds. In the previous session, copper – considered a good indicator of economic activity – was dragged to a one-month low after Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest producer, said some of its clients in the United States and Europe have asked to cancel orders. Italy has asked China to make "significant" purchases of Italian debt, the Financial Times reported on its website on Monday, saying that the chairman of China Investment Corp, headed up a delegation to Rome last week. Meanwhile Greek workers threatened to sabotage a new property tax, a last-ditch effort by the government to please international lenders and the US treasury secretary flies to Poland to meet with EU finance ministers on the Greek crisis.

Newmont Mining Corp.'s Indonesian unit said on Monday it is in talks with a worker union and local government to solve a protest that blocked access to its copper and gold mine last week.