Nickel

An immense chessboard-like grid which mysteriously appeared in the deserts of China's Xinjiang province several years ago could be the result of exploratory surveys for nickel.

Space mining start-up Planetary Resources President, Chris Lewicki, made more than one eyebrow rise Wednesday as he wrote in his blog that there are about $16 trillion worth of platinum waiting to be extracted in our Earth’s oceans.

Canada’s economy shrank 0.1% in August, the first drop in six months, driven mainly by depressed manufacturing and energy sectors, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

The European Commission said Wednesday it is delaying the deadline to emit a verdict on Glencore International PLC's $70 billion merger proposal with Xstrata (LON:XTA) after Glencore (LON:GLENA) made concessions to reduce EU concerns about too much potential concentration of interests in northern Europe.

Imagine for a moment that you have a credit card with a limit of a few trillion dollars but with one caveat: you need to use those funds exclusively to provide for your family. It sounds easy, until you realize your “family” is 1.1 billion people...The Chinese government is in a similar position.

Even shareholders choking on $200 million of management bonuses, may have to okay the compensation if they want the deal to go ahead. But Xstrata may have other options beside Glencore.

Scientists from France's Ecole Polytechnique have developed a remarkable new technology which extracts trace amounts of gold from industrial waste water.

A prominent Indonesian businessman has warned foreign miners of the perils of investing in his own country over the next two years due to new laws which curb overseas ownership.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) representative, Valerie Julliand, announced Tuesday the body has agreed to the Dominican Republic’s government's request to review Xstrata Nickel’s environmental impact study for the Loma Miranda project, located in the country’s central region.