Stephen Harper is using the backdrop of peaking gold prices amid international economic turmoil to sell his vision of economic development in Canada's Far North.

The JB Marks Education Trust Fund, a major source of bursaries in Australia for those in the mine, energy and construction industries and their dependants, has selected a judging panel for its 2011 awards, reports The Marketing Site.

The JB Marks Education Trust Fund in conjunction with the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC) celebrates disadvantaged student heroes who have excelled in spite of difficult circumstances. These awards are awarded to student achievers who make a success of the tertiary education opportunities created by the fund’s bursary scheme.

TSX-listed IC Potash is in talks with “quite a few” companies to partner on its Ochoa project in New Mexico, and hopes to have an agreement penned within the next 12 months, CEO Sidney Himmel told Mining Weekly Online.

BHP Billiton reported record annual results and beat analyst estimates in the process, after prices of copper, iron ore and coal reached all-time highs because of demand from China. Profit at the world's biggest miner surged 86% for the 12 months $23.6 billion, a full $1.4 billion ahead of expectations, on the back of earnings from iron ore, its biggest division, which jumped 122% to $13.3 billion.

Mountain Province Diamonds said on Wednesday it is breaking off talks with unspecified parties that showed an interest in the company and is instead focusing on advancing its Gahcho Kué project and to arrange its share of the financing which amounts to some $600 million. Shares in the little-traded company jumped almost 8% on the news.

A massive seam of pure gold worth at least nine billion pounds has been discovered in one of the poorest regions of eastern Germany.

The economic malaise that had markets pushing deep into the red over the last two weeks hit a bright spot on Tuesday. Copper futures rose the most in over a week, Bloomberg reported, on news of an uptick in the Chinese manufacturing sector.

As gold prices near $2,000 an ounce, some bulls say it's time to take money off the table after the safe-haven rally extended too far too fast in recent weeks. Gold investors at several firms said gold prices could correct sharply, citing overvaluation. While that does not mean prominent bulls are now bears, they recommended investors take profit on gold holdings, after the precious metal traded briefly above $1,900 on Tuesday for the first time.

The Ghana government handed over state-owned Ghana Consolidated Diamonds (GCD) to a new investor, Great Consolidated Diamond Ghana Ltd (GCDGL), at a ceremony held on Tuesday in Akwatia, 80 km northwest of here.