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Shares of North American base metal miners tumbled on Monday along with the price of copper, zinc, and nickel after the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by S&P amplified fears of a global economic slowdown.

Dow Jones reports resource nationalism is the top business risk for the top 30 global miners, while supply capacity constraints ranging from skills shortage to infrastructure bottlenecks continue to dominate the top ten list, according to an annual survey by consultants Ernst & Young. Resource nationalism jumped to the top of the list this year from fourth in 2010 after 25 countries announced their intentions to increase their take of the mining industry's profits and others contemplate outright nationalization. Fraud, bribery and corruption sneaked onto the list of top concerns for the first time as a number of countries introduce or tighten rules for executives operating in countries that rank high on corruption indices.

Newmont Nusa Tenggara, a unit of US miner Newmont Mining Corp , said on Sunday there had been no significant impact on production from several days of protests at its Indonesian copper and gold mine. Local authorities have dispersed the protesters who since Aug. 2 had been blocking access and disrupting operations at the Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in the island of West Sumbawa. Newmont also plans to review its job application process, which had been the focus of the protests. Batu Hijau aims to produce around 275 million pounds of copper and 275,000 ounces of gold in 2011.

Copper prices may remain above $4 a pound in coming months, driven by a recovery in demand from China, according to Codelco, the world's largest producer. Chinese inventories seem to have decreased and now the industry is catching up again," Diego Hernandez, chief executive officer of the Chilean state-owned company, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Output from Chile, the world's largest copper producer, may miss a target of 5.6 million metric tons in 2011 by 5 percent because of project delays, weather disruption and strikes at mine sites. Codelco plans to spend about $20 billion this decade to boost annual production to meet forecast rising global demand for copper.

Miners voted Friday to end a two-week long strike at the world's largest copper mine, La Escondida in northern Chile, approving an agreement struck by their union and management. Escondida employees accepted a management offer of a special production bonus for 2010, a year in which the mine had record earnings, a spokesman for the mine's largest union said. Image of the Escodida mine, by BHP Billiton.

The world's top copper mine, Chile's Escondida, refused to improve a bonus to defuse a 13-day strike on Wednesday, presenting an offer the union said fell short, but that workers would vote on. Union leaders said the proposed bonus worth $5,760 failed to meet the expectations of workers who rejected the same offer from mine owner BHP Billiton on Friday.

Bloomberg reports Antofagasta Plc, the copper giant controlled by Chile’s Luksic family, on Wednesday said second-quarter output increased 17% boosted by additional ore from the Esperanza mine in Chile that began shipping at the start of the year. Antofagasta is actively diversifying outside of its home base and is awaiting the outcome of a joint bid for a mine in Pakistan that has the potential to add 200,000 tonnes of copper annually.

Speaking at the Diggers & Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie Australia, Robert Friedland, executive chairman of Ivanhoe mines made big claims for the new mine his company is constructing in Mongolia together with major shareholder Rio Tinto. Oyu Tolgoi is now one third complete and according to Friedland would have a life of more than a century. The mine is on track to produce more than 1.2 billion pounds of copper and 650,000 ounces of gold each year. Oyu Tolgoi will also help turn Mongolia into the world's fastest-growing economy with staggering GDP growth of 35%. Just to make sure no-one has any misconceptions of the grand scale of the project Friedland boasted that Oyu Tolgoi has 14,200 builders, easily overshadowing the largest construction project in the US, the new World Trade Center with only 2,300. And just to top things off he said Ivanhoe is worth at least double the $15.6 billion valuation the market is affording it at the moment.

Platinum and palladium producer Stillwater Mining Co's quarterly profit almost tripled, but the results fell short of Wall Street expectations and the company's stock slipped. Analysts said investors are concerned about Stillwater's plans to diversify by buying Canadian gold and copper miner Peregrine Metals. Since the $450 million deal was announced last month, Stillwater's stock has fallen 37 percent.