The world's largest copper producer, Codelco, is facing a 24-hour strike on Monday in opposition to a plan that workers say would move Chile's state-owned mining corporation toward privatization. The Federation of Copper Workers , which represents 15,000 of the company's 20,000 employees, called for the strike, which will be the company's first in 18 years.

Europe's largest copper producer Aurubis sees a trend for rising copper prices thanks to higher demand for more electronics goods, its chief executive told a German paper. "Even if there may be short-terms price swings in either direction... demand for copper is rising with increasing prosperity in countries such as China," Bernd Drouven told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

Australia's coalmining axis will shift to the north and west on the back of the Gillard government's carbon tax, according to industry leaders left frustrated by the plan revealed yesterday by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Despite unveiling a $1.264 billion assistance package for what it believes will be the worst-affected coal mines, the Gillard government was accused by the Australian Coal Association of wrongly anticipating where the tax pain would be felt.

A strike paralyzing production at Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg mine, one of the world's largest sources of copper and gold, will extend into a second week after talks broke down between the company and workers, a union official said on Friday. The union, which represents 8,000 workers who have been on strike since Monday, asked U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX.N) to send Chairman James Moffett to the remote Indonesian mine to negotiate.

Australian contractor Leighton Holdings Limited revises down its full year 2010/11 financials with expected $427 million of loss versus its previous guidance for an after tax profit of $480 million. The revision is primarily due to write-backs of expected profit on the Airport Link project in Queensland and the Victorian Desalination Project, and an impairment of Leighton’s investment in the Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG).

The United States is poised to export the most coal since 1992 this year, filling a gap created when flooding interrupted Australian supplies and buoying shipments for railroads such as Union Pacific and CSX. Union Pacific, the nation’s largest railroad, may double coal exports this year to more than 4 million tonnes, said Doug Glass, the company’s vice president and general manager for energy. CSX predicts shipments may rise 33 percent to a record in 2011 after first-quarter volumes climbed 45 percent.

Polar bears were the theme of the diamond jewelry items presented to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Canada's Northwest Territories. The newlyweds received a set of diamond pave cufflinks modeled after the polar bear logo of the NWT Government, and a diamond pave brooch also in the shape of the North's iconic bear.

More details of the carbon tax are trickling out as the Australian Government prepares to take the next step towards imposing its carbon price.

Plans for a huge gold mine near Kershaw have been delayed for at least a year because of the mine's potential effect on creeks and wetlands that run through the site in Lancaster County. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct an environmental impact statement before it decides on a wetlands permit for Romarco Minerals Inc., which wants to create the largest gold mine east of the Mississippi River. Image of the Haile gold mine site, by Romarco Minerals.