Ag Journal reports it’s been a hot summer, but the fertilizer market is even hotter, and that has farmers worried about whether they will be able to get what they need at a price they can afford. According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, fertilizer prices in 2011 are expected to exceed the previous year by 24 percent. Back in May, the price of phosphate was 31 percent higher compared with the same quarter the previous year, and the price of potash was 20 percent higher. Typically fertilizer prices move higher from August to December, which explains why stocks in big fertilizer manufacturers tend to gain 15 percent, on average, during that period.

Chinese business leaders have warned of an investment strike over a decision by Treasurer Wayne Swan to impose a two-stage foreign approval process for resource exploration and mining.

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.

Bloomberg reports gold may decline to below $1,700 an ounce in September before climbing to an all-time high of $2,000 in October as the metal extends its longest rally in at least nine decades, according to technical analysts. The Wall Street Journal reports market participants expect volatile trading in gold to continue this week, as traders look to what may be contentious debate on US President Barack Obama's proposed jobs and infrastructure program and as traders take positions ahead of the meeting of the Federal Reserve's policy-making committee next week.

Shares in China-focused miner Silvercorp Metals slumped over 7% on Monday after British Columbia security regulators said they were joining the investigation into an anonymous letter accusing the company of a $1.3 billion fraud. Silvercorp was forced on Friday 2 September to make public the letter and at the same time disclosed that someone had built up a short position of 23 million shares – more than 13% of the number outstanding. The firm with projects in China and Canada plunged after the news broke and Monday's drop brings year to date losses close to 40% despite the firm's ongoing buyback programme.

The Australian reports BHP Mitsubishi's decision to bypass a thoroughly resistant troika of unions by seeking a direct employee ballot on a new three-year enterprise agreement takes the world's number one miner into deeply uncharted industrial relations waters. The move comes after nine months of fruitless negotiations and 11 different offers – including annual pay rises of 5% and a $15,000 bonus – all of which were rejected by the unions which will now resume strikes. The six mines operated by BHP Mistubishi have a combined output capacity of more than 58 million tonnes per year of mostly metallurgical coal, representing about a fifth of annual global trade.

Gold for December delivery – the most actively traded contract – fell 2.4%  or $45, to $1,815 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange by lunchtime on Monday failing to capitalize on its safe-haven status as investors were forced to raise cash to cover losses on equity markets. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered another day of heavy selling, declining more than 120 points in volatile trade while European and Asian markets were battered after the deputy finance minister of Greece said the debt-laden country has cash to operate only until next month. Germany was readying measure to protect its banks against a Greek default while France's financial institutions were downgraded because of its exposure.

Stornoway Diamond Corporation involved in the discovery of over 200 kimberlites in seven Canadian diamond districts will join S&P/TSX SmallCap Index at the end of the week, a move which should increase the appeal of the counter among institutional investors. It's a new milestone for Stornoway which flourished under the leadership of Eira Thomas, the renowned diamond explorer whose spectacular success in the 90s transformed Canadian diamond mining. Thomas left in August following the acquisition of Stornoway's lead asset – the 100%-owned Renard Diamond Project – on track to become Quebec's first diamond mine.

Asian and Australian markets were down on Monday. The Shanghai Stock Exchange was down -0.03%; the Nikkei tumbled -2.31% and the Hang Seng Index fell -4.21%. The S&P ASX 200 was also down by -3.72%. Commodities were all down due to worries about the Euro Zone crisis and concern about sluggish worldwide growth. Copper was off -1.8% to US$8,665/ton.