Nickel

Two workers died after they were hit by waste debris being removed from Brazilian miner Vale's (VALE5.SA) Stobie underground copper-nickel mine in Sudbury, Ontario, officials said on Thursday. The employees were working in a shaft about 1,000 metres below the surface on Wednesday evening when the accident occurred, and were dead when rescuers reached the scene, the company said.

To show-off its size in a nickel belt with the likes of Hudbay Minerals as a neighbour, Anfield Nickel (TSX-V: ANF) set 100 million as a key tonnage threshold to cross at its Mayaniquel nickel project in Guatemala. In its latest resource update, Anfield clawed ever closer to the self-imposed target, important perhaps psychologically more than anything.

South African mining output rebounded strongly in April, rising by 12.4% year-on-year, after contracting 1.4% in the previous month, a report by Statistics South Africa showed on Thursday. Year-to-date production increased by 5.2%, on the back of surging output of nickel, manganese, platinum group metals and copper but gold production continued to lag, only managing a 1.5% increase. Analysts warned that the outlook for the rest of year was clouded by scheduled wage negotiations across the industry that could lead to strikes and a strong currency which hampers competitiveness.

Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP), the Western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth oxides, today announced that, subject to market conditions, it intends to offer $200 million principal amount of its Convertible Senior Notes due 2016 (the “Notes”) in an offering exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933. The Notes are being offered only to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933. In addition, Molycorp intends to grant the initial purchasers of the Notes an option to purchase an additional $30 million principal amount of the Notes.

The Canadian Press reports a group of shareholders in copper, nickel and platinum junior miner Ursa Major Minerals is looking to gather support for a bid to oust the company's board over the underperformance of its stock on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Merchant bank Forbes & Manhattan Inc. and Inspiration Mining Corp., which is Ursa Major's largest shareholder, said Tuesday they have filed a dissident proxy circular seeking backers for a move to elect new directors at an annual meeting June 23. Ursa Major was trading up 7.4% on the TSX by mid-day Tuesday.

Baotou Steel Rare Earth (Group) Hi Tech Co, the world's largest rare earth producer, will consolidate 35 local miners this month and further unify the distribution and processing of the 17 elements. The Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the site of 97% of China's reserves, has drafted a plan to concentrate all resources under Baotou. The move follows the announcement last week that the state-owned firm will set up the country's first rare earth products exchange to further regulate the market. China accounts for upwards of 95% of global supply. To combat China's domination of the market the US recently declared rare earth to be a strategic resource for the country.

Seymour Ventures' wholly owned subsidiary Rare Earth Industries Ltd. (REI) is pleased to announce that it has commenced the exploration work program on the Mt. Bisson and Xeno rare earth properties, located in the Omineca Mining Division, approximately 50 kilometers NW of Mackenzie in central BC. REI has the right to earn a 60% interest in the properties from Paget Minerals by spending $1,050,000 over three years to develop the property, including $350,000 in 2011. The initial discovery of rare earth element mineralization on the Mount Bisson property was made by Halleran in 1986 with total rare earth element (TREE) contents as high as 13.5 wt.% in grab samples from the Laura occurrence.

Shares in Africa-focused Globe Metals and Mining shot up on Monday after it released positive rare earth exploration results. Chinese state-owned firm East China Minerals Exploration and Development Bureau last month became the largest shareholder in Globe when it bought a 53.7 per cent stake.

A Conference Board of Canada report says high energy and metals prices "are prompting resource companies to invest billions in iron ore projects, nickel processing and offshore oil developments" in Newfoundland and Labrador, generating the largest growth in real GDP this year of all the Canadian provinces." The board's Provincial Outlook - Spring 2011 report issued Wednesday also forecasts that Saskatchewan "will benefit from tax breaks and a hot mining industry."