Four more financial institutions have joined Maple Group Acquisition Corp's plan to mount a hostile bid for the TMX Group (X.TO: Quote) and top a friendly offer from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.L: Quote), the consortium of Canadian banks and pension funds said on Sunday. Desjardins Financial Group, GMP Capital Inc (GMP.TO: Quote), Dundee Capital Markets (DCM.TO: Quote) and Manulife Financial (MFC.TO: Quote) have agreed to join Maple's C$3.6 billion (US$3.7 billion) bid for the operator of Canada's main bourse.

Indian gold demand has grown 25 per cent despite 400 per cent price rise of the rupee in the last decade. Newly published research from the World gold Council reaffirms India as a key driver of global gold demand, with an expected increase by over 30 per cent in real terms. This research suggests that by 2020 cumulative annual demand for gold in India will increase to excess of 1200 tonnes or approximately Rs. 2.5 trillion, at current price levels.

Germany’s May crude steel output of 4.1 million mt marked a 1.1% increase on the prior year, as Europe’s largest steel producer […]

Rhino Resource Partners is pleased to announce today the acquisition of the Elk Horn Coal Company, LLC ("Elk Horn") for approximately $120 million in cash with no assumption of debt.   Elk Horn is a coal leasing company located in eastern Kentucky with approximately 156,000 acres of owned mineral.  Incorporated in 1915, coal has been mined from its properties for almost 100 years.  Elk Horn will broaden Rhino's sources of income by providing a stream of royalty income without the assumption of additional operating risk.

Last month, Union Pacific Railroad loaded 876 coal trains in the Southern Powder River Basin (SPRB) compared with 896 trains in May 2010. […]

Germany will need more coal plants if it is to phase out nuclear power, Chancellor Angela Merkel said. "If we want to quickly get out of nuclear power and into renewable energy, we need fossil-fuel power plants.

Scandinavian Resources Ltd. (ASX:SCR) has now acquired the Ekstromsberg and Tjarrojakka iron ore projects, about 45 kilometres from Kiruna inside the Arctic […]

Silver is searing hot in China as imports are set to hit a new high. The white metal’s widespread use in industry […]

Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) has taken a 45 percent majority stake in a rare earth joint venture in Jiangsu province, boosting […]