Nickel

According to a new report by Business Monitor International Russia's mining sector is set to grow slowly over the forecast period to 2015, marking a reversal of the declining output seen since 2006. Business Monitor forecasts the value of the mining sector to reach US$259bn in 2015 from US$134bn in 2010, marking an annual average growth rate of 2.6%.

When news broke Thursday last week that China was raising REE export quotas for the second half of the year, ostensibly in reaction to a WTO ruling, it was greeted with some surprise and a measure of relief by the makers of anything from iPods to lasers to stealth helicopters. But as the implications of the announcement on future pricing of the 17 elements begin to sink in some analysts are pointing out that rather than easing the pressure on manufacturers who need rare earths, China's move was aimed at cutting off at the knees development of mining projects outside its borders.

Thunder Bay-based Zenyatta Ventures has ended its dispute with Constance Lake First Nation after the leadership of the 1,470-strong community decided to no longer pursue a motion of injunction against the junior explorer in exchange for better co-operation and preferential job opportunities. Zenyatta can now advance its Albany project south of the so-called Ring of Fire in the James Bay lowlands where it is exploring for nickel and platinum group metals with a purported value in excess of $1 billion.

WOLFSBURG Russia is offering Germany closer cooperation on rare earths as well as gas and oil supplies, a Russian official said on Monday ahead of an annual bilateral summit in Germany. Berlin has been trying to improve German industry's access to the

The London Metal Exchange (LME) will double the amount of metal required to be delivered from the biggest stockpiles to ease a backlog in Detroit, home to a quarter of global stockpiles. The so-called load-out rate will be increased to a daily minimum of 3,000 metric tons for a warehouse company storing more than 900,000 tons at a single location in April. The new rules may help to remove aluminum faster from warehouses holding the biggest stockpiles. Withdrawing metal from warehouses in Detroit, the only location with stockpiles above 900,000 tons, can take as long as seven months.

China announced this week that it was nearly doubling its rare earths export quota for the next six months compared to last […]

Norilsk Nickel, world number one nickel and palladium producer and Russia's biggest miner, announced on Friday it is restarting operations at its Maggie Hays mine near Lake Johnston in West Australia. Norilsk mothballed Maggie Hays bought from BHP and the other Australian operations it acquired in 2007 two years later as the financial crisis cut demand. Stainless steel production accounts for around two-thirds of nickel consumption.

After surging last week, industry bellwether Molycorp led a slide in rare earth mining stocks with a 5% drop by early afternoon on Thursday on news China is raising REE export quotas for the second half of the year in reaction to a WTO ruling. The exact impact of the decision is not yet clear: the new quotas only bring 2011 exports in line with last year prompting the EU to call it "highly disappointing." And fresh data from Lynas Corporation, world no. 2 outside China, show the price of a basket of eight REEs jumping 140% in just over two months.

The prospect of mining the ocean floor may seem far-fetched, but China, motivated by its insatiable hunger for resources, has opened its eyes to the idea. According to a story in The Japan Times, China will attempt to plunge the Jialong - the world's deepest-diving manned submersible - 5,000 metres below the surface of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and North America, exceeding the craft's previous depth of 3,759 metres.