Nickel

BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP), the world's largest diversified miner, is considering a withdrawal from aluminum and nickel operations as part of a general retreat from non-profitable sides projects by key mining players, and the company has appointed advisors to look into the possible sale of these assets.

The exchange will be located in Baotou city in Inner Mongolia region, which is home to nearly half the world's light rare-earth output.

Space mining start-up Planetary Resources has announced that it has partnered with Virgin Galactic in the quest to explore asteroids for minerals.

The company said 50kg of dysprosium with 99.9% purity was separated from resins remaining from past production runs at the former Soviet Union's number one rare earth plant.

"Passage of this legislation is an important step toward recovering the 22,000 rare earth-related jobs the U.S. has lost since the 1980s.”

Giant miner Xstrata has set Sep. 7 as the day for its shareholders to vote on the $26 billion takeover by Glencore, giving the commodities trader six weeks to reach an agreement on the conditions.

Equity investing is squarely in a risk-off phase and few sectors have been hit harder than junior mining.

New research released Monday indicates that listed mining and resources companies across the world are keen to comply with the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were officially adopted one year ago, but must keep up the momentum in order to maintain public confidence in their efforts.

News from unnamed sources that quoted unnamed analysts that China has started stockpiling rare earths had the industry buzzing this week.