Niger, a major supplier of uranium to the French nuclear sector, wants a better price for its supplies, President Mahamadou Issoufou told state TV. Issoufou, who came to power after March elections that ended just over a year of military rule, said the poor desert state was determined to make the most of its resources.

BHP Billiton's friendly $12 billion takeover of the US gas company Petrohawk is the group's largest in six years, and its most ambitious foray into the controversial business of shale gas extraction through a process called hydraulic fracturing or fracking. While the transaction is a coup for Petrohawk – its shares duly rose 65% to match the takeover price – analysts are skeptical about the prospects of BHP Billiton, the world's most valuable miner, making a success of the deal considering its poor track record with acquisitions, its relatively limited experience in the fracking business, environmental concerns and warnings that it is again buying at the top of the cycle.

The Hindustan Times reports India's new mining bill will empower state governments to hand out leases, take up prospecting and exploration activities before mines and call for bids for commercial utilisation of mineral deposits such as coal and iron ore. The Group of Ministers, which vetted the draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill 2011 a fortnight ago, has given its nod for authorising and incentivising state governments take up "prospecting and exploration, so that adequately prospected ore bodies can be put on bid."

Russia will seek to secure a priority right for the explored ocean minefields in the Atlantic says Polar Marine Geological Prospecting Expedition Vladimir Kryukov following the first stage of ore deposit exploration on the Atlantic Ocean floor. The Russian research vessel The Professor Logachev is engaged in exploring copper, zinc, gold and silver deposits in the area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at about 13 degrees north latitude. Over the last seven years, Russian marine geologists have made a number of discoveries and is now seeking to legally execute its right of exploring them through the United Nations.

The Australian reports China-backed Citic Pacific's $US5.2 billion West Australian iron ore project has been hit with a $US900 million budget blowout in another sign of growing costs in the booming resource state. The cost increase is the second for Sino Iron – the largest magnetite iron ore project under development globally – whose first production target has been pushed back again.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) will double the amount of metal required to be delivered from the biggest stockpiles to ease a backlog in Detroit, home to a quarter of global stockpiles. The so-called load-out rate will be increased to a daily minimum of 3,000 metric tons for a warehouse company storing more than 900,000 tons at a single location in April. The new rules may help to remove aluminum faster from warehouses holding the biggest stockpiles. Withdrawing metal from warehouses in Detroit, the only location with stockpiles above 900,000 tons, can take as long as seven months.

"As the fifth-biggest consumer of diamonds, a stake in a diamond mine would be interesting," the CEO of Swatch Group, Nick Hayek told the Finanz und Wirtschaft newspaper on Saturday. The world's largest watchmaker, which apart from cheap and cheerful Swatches, also owns luxury brands Breguet, Blancpain, Glashütte (pictured), Omega and Tiffany & Co, said demand for watches studded with diamonds has increased explosively and the desired quality are only available in small quantities. According to IDEX research global polished diamond prices rose sharply during the second half of June, and are showing no signs of a pull-back.

Rescue work in a flooded coal mine in Guizhou Province has been terminated, 14 days after a flood trapped 23 workers underground. The rescue work in Niupeng Mine, located in Pingtang County, was halted at 4 p.m. Saturday. The miners were very unlikely to be alive, according to an assessment by rescue experts. Twenty one workers remain missing while two bodies have been retrieved from the mine. The area where the miners are believed to be has been completely submerged. While 406,000-cubic meters of water had been pumped out during the past 14 days, flood water was still pouring into the pit.

Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has rejected the monitor nominated by civil society to oversee operations at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, saying the appointment is null and void. The proposed watchdog is part of ongoing efforts to legitimise Zimbabwe's diamond trade, which was suspended in 2009 over human rights concerns at the Chiadzwa diamond fields. These concerns are still high with ongoing reports of rights abuses and rampant smuggling, all at the hands of the military, which maintains tight controls of the entire area.