London- and Nasdaq-listed gold producer Randgold Resources Ltd. (LON:RRS) (NASDAQ:GOLD) stocks went up 3.5 percent after the West Africa-focused miner reported a more than fourfold rise in net profit for the year ended December 2011 due to higher gold prices and a significant increase in production.

Hint of significant gold and copper deposits have been found in Rajasthan, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, with the gold reserves believed to be world class.

Peru's domestic molybdenum and iron ore production experienced strong growth last year even as the country's precious and base metals production declined.

The company will immediately mothball four mines in central Appalachia, plans to idle two more by early next year and scale back output at other mines as US coal demand for electricity generation wanes.

South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, appears to be moving away from nationalization of the mining industry to reassure foreign investors but is considering new taxes and "targeted interventions" in the sector, particularly platinum mines.

The state agency of geology and mineral resources of Kyrgyzstan announced this week that in 2011, the output of the gold-mining industry of the ex-Soviet republic increased by 41.7% compared with 2010. The value of gold production dominated by the Kumtor mine owned by Canada's Centerra was $1.9 billion, almost a full 15% of the impoverished country's $13.16 billion (2011 est.) gross domestic product.

According to a new European Wind Energy Association report a record 71% of all the new power generating capacity installed in the Europe Union in 2011 came from solar panels, offshore and onshore wind turbines and other renewable energy sources. This at the same time as the world's largest clean coal power station project appears stuck in the starting blocks.

A new UN report says a US trade adviser appointed by Barack Obama orchestrated a $20 million deal to buy 1,045 pounds of gold in eastern DRC from warlord Bosco Ntaganda, wanted for war crimes since 2006. The botched deal by Houston oil tycoon Dr. Kase Lawal also involved his brother and former basketball star Dikembe Mutombo.

The Telegraph reports Chairman John Bond and CEO Mick Davis risk being voted off the board of Xstrata after being accused of negotiating "a cosy stitch-up" with Glencore and that other major shareholders have threatened to block the deal altogether if the Swiss commodities giant does not offer a "substantial premium."