Australia's government urged companies on Monday to tighten vigilance over cyber attacks launched offshore against some of the world's biggest resource firms and other businesses, warning high-tech threats were intensifying. Lockheed Martin Corp , the U.S. government's top information technology provider, raised concern about cyber hacking at the weekend, complaining of a pattern of frequent attacks on it from around the world.

One of the contributors to the low gold prices of the 1970s was substantial hedging of forward output by mining companies, either as corporate policy, or at the insistence of lending institutions who wished to protect their positions should the price fall further. Conversely, a contributor to the rise in gold prices over the past few years has been very substantial de-hedging by, in particular, the gold majors, which has effectively soaked up some gold demand, as belief grew that the run up in the gold price had much further to go.

With the vote of two Republicans who crossed party lines, the Nevada State Senate approved Senate Joint Resolution 15, which will eliminate constitutional caps on Nevada's net proceeds of mines tax. Two Republicans, Sens. Ben Kieckhefer of Reno and Michael Roberson of Las Vegas, joined Senate Democrats in voting for the resolution, which now goes to the Assembly.

In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday, Tata Chemicals said that its subsidiary Valley Holdings has bought a 32.9% stake in EPM Mining Ventures, which is the process of developing a potash prospect in Sevier Lake, Utah. According to the Financial Post talks between India and producers at the International Fertilizer Industry Association's annual conference in Montreal broke down on Friday. At some 7m tonnes/year India is the second largest importer of potash in the world and is asking for a 10% discount on the current price of $500/tonne.

The $7.1 billion merger of coal miners Massey Energy Co (MEE.N) and Alpha Natural Resources Inc (ANR.N) should be blocked or Massey's board will avoid responsibility for their reckless management, a shareholder attorney told a court on Thursday. Several pension funds that invested in Massey have sued to block the vote next week by shareholders of the two companies.

According to the report in the newspaper senior bureaucrats have told the federal government that the controversial pipeline that would stretch for 1,170km from Brudenheim in Alberta to a new marine terminal at Kitimat in northern British Columbia, offers export capacity that the industry does not need. Last week Stephen Wuori, Enbridge’s president for Liquids Pipelines, vigorously defended the project saying that given that currently 99% of Canada’s $50bn/year exports went to the US, the industry needs to diversify and supply the energy-hungry economies of the Pacific Rim.

BusinessDay reports on Friday the global platinum surplus may jump eightfold to as much as five tons after Japan’s worst earthquake slashed car production, reducing the country’s demand for the metal used in cars’ emission systems to the lowest level in 28 years. Earlier Mining Weekly reported that world number two platinum producer Impala Platinum has shelved plans to increase production at its underperforming 73%-owned Marula mine leading to lay-offs at the company’s largest development project in South Africa.

Yellowhead Mining Inc. ("Yellowhead") (TSX VENTURE:YMI) is pleased to report Hole HC11-87 returned 242.52 m of 0.39 Cu, 1.6 g/t Ag and 0.037 g/t Au, including 33.45 m of 0.65% Cu, 2.1 g/t Ag and 0.071 g/t Au and 17.62 m of 0.96% Cu, 4.5 g/t Ag and 0.069 g/t Au.

Zambia has approved the proposed takeover of Equinox Minerals by Barrick Gold on condition the government keeps its 2.2 percent stake in Equinox, a regulatory body said on Friday. The Zambia Competition and Consumer Protection Commission granted final conditional authorisation of the acquisition as the deal did not raise any competition concerns, it said in a statement.