Nickel

The Columbus Republic reports opponents of a planned nickel and copper mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula are asking a judge to put a state-issued permit for the project on hold ahead of initial blasting expected later this month. Four organizations have asked a judge to issue a stay while considering an appeal of the Department of Environmental Quality's 2007 decision to grant Kennecott Eagle Minerals, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, a permit. Kennecott Eagle is targeting an underground ore deposit that would be the only US mine where nickel is the primary mineral generated instead of a byproduct. The mine could yield up to 300 million pounds of nickel and about 200 million pounds of copper.

Crossland Uranium Mines (ASX:CUX) plans to issue a report next month on an illuvial heavy mineral rare earth element resource at its 50% owned Charley Creek project in Northern Territory. A 16.7 tonne quantity of alluvial material has been obtained from the Cockroach prospect for testwork to investigate a heavy mineral process flowsheet and to generate samples of heavy mineral product for initial marketing and additional process development tests. Crossland says that the Charley Creek alluvials should be low cost sources of heavy mineral concentrates with high concentrations of REE and/or zircon.

A government panel is working on a strategy to encourage discovery of rare earth elements in India, Economic Times has revealed: "The committee will look into the current availability of rare earth and energy critical elements and decide the strategy for production to ensure long-term raw material security. It will also encourage the recovery of ECEs which can be found as byproducts in the production of other minerals."

Sinocast reports China's market for rare earths has begun to see negative effects of its crazy growth this year with an increasing number of downstream players finding it difficult to make deals despite price cuts. Prices of certain elements such as cerium used to polish TV screens and lenses are down 10% over the summer after months of break-neck price hikes. Reuters reports China is in the midst of a crackdown on illegal miners and processors and the busy black market trade that have sprung up, but has struggled to impose a REE production cap, with actual annual output exceeding official quotas by 40% to 50% since 2007.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 30, 2011) - Further to the press release dated July 27, 2011, Nortec Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:NVT)(PINK SHEETS:NMNZF)(FRANKFURT:WMQ) ("Nortec" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has signed an Option and Joint Venture Agreement ("OA") with Otterburn Ventures Inc. (CSNX:OTB) ("Otterburn"). The OA gives Otterburn the option to earn up to an 80% interest in Nortec's Läntinen Koillismaa project, a 100 % owned palladium-platinum–gold–copper-nickel property ("LK Project"), located in north central Finland.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 30, 2011) - North American Nickel Inc. ("NAN") (TSX VENTURE:NAN)(OTCBB:WSCRF) (CUSIP: 65704T 108) is pleased to announce that it has commenced a field campaign to evaluate prospective areas within its 4,841 km²exclusive mineral exploration licence. Electromagnetic anomalies, identified from a recent re-interpretation of a 1995 GeoTEM fixed wing survey, along with other areas of interest derived from compilation of previous work and satellite imagery will be ground checked in order to prioritize areas for helicopter borne time domain electromagnetic (TEM) surveying planned for September and October.

Shares of Minara Resources jumped 36% today on news of a takeover bid by Swiss-based commodities trader Glencore Resources. Glencore, which went public in May with an astonishing $11 billion IPO, is seeking to buy a minority position in Minara, of which it already owns 73.4%, for AU$268 million.

TSX V-quoted Noront Resources on Tuesday published the results of a prefeasibility study into its Eagles Nest nickel-copper-platinum project in Ontario’s Ring of Fire, outlining a $734-million capital investment for a one-million ton a year mine.

Standard & Poor's has kept its BBB- long term corporate credit and ruAA+ Russia national scale ratings on Russian mining and metal group MMC Norilsk Nickel on CreditWatch with negative implications.