The owner of what was once Nunavut’s first and only diamond mine, Shear Diamonds Ltd., on Dec. 8 struck a deal with a Belgian diamond dealer that will give Shear the cash it needs to recover and sell diamonds from the mothballed site’s existing stockpiles.

Australia's Extract Resources Ltd., owner of the world’s fourth-largest uranium deposit, advised shareholders to take no action regarding the $2.2 billion takeover bid from Chinese nuclear fuels supplier Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC).

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 9, 2011) - Strait Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:SRD) ("Strait Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding agreement (the "Agreement") with Teck Peru S.A. ("Teck Peru"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited ("Teck"), giving Teck Peru an option to earn up to a 75% interest in the Company's Alicia copper-gold property ("Alicia" or the "Property") in Peru by spending up to $30 million on exploration at Alicia or delivering a pre-feasibility study, making $500,000 in cash option payments and exercising the warrants referred to below. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 9, 2011) - Strait Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:SRD) ("Strait Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding agreement (the "Agreement") with Teck Peru S.A. ("Teck Peru"), a...

China Knowledge reports the Middle Kingdom could experience an escalation in the demand for iron ore according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Poor diamond sales have bitten into diamond retailer and miner Harry Winston Diamond Corp.

Kalahari Minerals (LON:KAH), whose main asset is the Husab uranium project in Namibia, has accepted a cash offer from Chinese Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC) valuing the London-listed company at $993 million.

A layer of gold nanodots on the surface of indium-tin oxide (ITO) coated glass may improve the efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells, according to new research published in the journal, Gold Bulletin.

Eric Friedland reports that he has exercised rights under the rights offering of Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. ("Peregrine") completed on December 6, 2011 to acquire deemed beneficial ownership of a total of 2,818,465 common shares of Peregrine, representing 2.5% of the deemed outstanding common shares of Peregrine.

Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, will invest US$ 244 million to speed up the development of its Quetena copper deposit in northern Chile, an open pit operation that will produce 62,000 tons of fine copper per year.