Copper hit its highest since mid-April on Tuesday on better-than-expected U.S. housing data, a weaker dollar and hopes Chinese demand will remain firm, helping offset investor anxiety over U.S. and European sovereign debt concerns.

The head of the Atomic Energy Commission said a four-year study has indicated that the Tumalapalli mine near the Indian state capital Hyderbad, which is scheduled to begin operating later this year, could produce up to 150,000 tons of uranium. The Daily Telegraph reports: "It's confirmed that the mine has 49,000 tons and there are indications that the total quantity could be three times that amount," Mr Banerjee said on a visit to a nuclear plant in the western state of Rajasthan on Monday. If that is the case, it will become the largest uranium mine in the world, he added.

Alberta should establish an independent agency to monitor the environmental impact and pollution from oil sands development, an independent panel told the provincial government in a report released Tuesday. The Alberta Environmental Monitoring Panel was formed in January under pressure from environment groups when questions emerged over the quality and comprehensiveness of environmental reporting on the oil sands. Canada's oil sands also come under fire recently when it was revealed that the federal government deliberately excluded data indicating a 20% increase in pollution in a climate change report to the UN.

Oilsands Quest stock was trading down around 15% in early afternoon trade on Tuesday after the company announced it was hoping to raise $60 million in a rights offer to advance its flagship Axe Lake oil sands project in Saskatchewan. The company is offering existing shareholders 300 million rights at a 40% discount to the share price last Friday, a day on which Oilsands Quest rocketed more 61% on 10-times usual volumes after Saskatchewan converted its Axe Lake permits to 15-year leases. The company has been forced to raise money and go it alone after a fruitless 11-month quest to find a strategic partner.

Live cams are not just for watching baby eagles and monitoring highway conditions, Northland has its own where users can see how much progress the company has made on its Kaunisvaara project, an iron ore mine being built in northern Sweden.

When a 4.5% jump in stock price with 15 million shares changing hands on news of the acquisition of three new concessions is considered a dull trading day then you know you're dealing with a volatile stock. Portage Resources has gone from 2c to 65c a share in the matter of three months but the Peruvian explorer has certainly not been a one-way bet – the stock's 52-week high is $1.24. The company based in Miraflores, Lima (pictured) has been snapping up silver properties in Peru, but after announcing silver reserves worth $2.3 billion at one of them the stock has been unstoppable.

New York Times reports that Goldman Sachs' efforts to hedge its bets in commodity trades, along with fixed income and currency trades, resulted in a disappointing drop in reported income in Q2. On Tuesday Goldman reported $1.05 billion in profit in the second quarter, or $1.85 share. Analysts were expecting $2.27 a share.

South African miner International Ferro Metals said output fell 17 percent in the fourth quarter due to a scheduled shutdown of a furnace. Ferrochrome production was at 42,584 tonnes for the quarter ended June 30.

Need proof that stakeholder relations can be fraught? See this recently uploaded YouTube video of Siveru Soma, an Indian MP, who was chased away and beaten up by a mob of women who were protesting a Chinese clay mining project in Visakhapatnam district.