The Santiago Times reported that Sebastián Pinera, president of Chile, signed a bill which if approved by Congress, would eliminate a substantial source of revenue for Chile’s armed forces and at the same time relieve a massive burden on the country’s state mining company. Under current legislation dating back to the Second World War, 10% of revenues from Chile’s National Copper Corporation, Codelco, are directed to the nation’s armed forces. Codelco is the world’s largest copper mining company and accounts for some 11% of global copper production, but the tax has contributed to years of underinvestment and the prospect of falling output at the miner just as copper prices hit record highs.

Alto Group Holdings, a mining and commodities trade company headquartered in New York, announced on Monday the acquisition of the Great Excelsior Mine in Washington State. The Great Excelsior Mine, located in Washington State, was a gold-silver producer which was forced to close in 1918 due to falling metal prices and a shortage of supplies. This mining property has been explored by numerous mining companies over the years.

Gold demand surged in the first quarter of this year as purchases of the precious metal for investment climbed 11% to 981.3 tons in the first three months according to the latest World Gold Council report. Much of the increase was as a result of buying of the physical metal – purchases of gold bars and coins shot up 52% year on year to 366 tons, representing a virtual doubling in value to $16bn. The report from the association of gold producers comes as the biggest producers sound warnings on Monday that any major pullback in the metal’s price below $1,000 could jeopardize the primary supply of gold.

China's rare earths exports in April were 53% down on a year earlier and 12.6% from the March figure, yet export value per tonne rose ten-fold, customs data showed on Monday. China, which controls about 97% of rare earth output, has angered customers in Japan, the United States and Europe by clamping down on production and sale of the 17 rare earth elements, citing a need to clean up highly polluting production processes and to stop illegal exports.

Bard Ventures Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:CBS)(FRANKFURT:BVU) is pleased to announce that the drill program on its Lone Pine Property has commenced. The property is located 15 kilometers north-northwest of Houston, BC and is situated in the Omineca Mining Division. The drill program is planned to further evaluate exceptional drill hole results received from all three zones on the property, being the Alaskite Zone, the Quartz Breccia Zone and the 61 Zone.

Canpotex held a ground breaking ceremony at the railcar maintenance and staging facility located south of Potash Corp’s Lanigan mine on Friday. In business since 1972, Canpotex is the exclusive offshore marketing company for the three big provincial Saskatchewan potash players and maintains a fleet of 5,000 specialty railcars for its customers in about 30 countries around the world.

The U.K. has committed to halving its carbon emissions before 2027 following the publication of its ambitious fourth carbon budget. The rollout and development of renewable energy technologies, as well as the construction of new nuclear power plants, will play a key part in reducing the country's carbon emissions 50% when compared to 1990 levels. This will mean that net emissions for 2023-27 should not exceed 1.95 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Forbes reported that demand for Appalachian coal should drive up profits for US producers. The market news is quoted as saying: India and Europe will likely to import more of the plentiful, dirtier-burning coal used by electric plants, Brean Murray Carret & Co. analyst Jeremy Sussman said in a research note Friday.

Trading Room reports that Melbourne-based Fortis Mining Ltd has agreed to raise $236m by selling new shares and notes to investors in Hong Kong and China to buy and develop two potash mines in Kazakhstan. ASX-listed Fortis, previously a gold and base metal explorer, acquired the rights to purchase the Chelkarskaya and Zhilyanskoe salt deposits in March. The deposits have an exploration target range of 6.5 – 6.6bn tonnes of potassium making them amongst the largest potash salt deposits in the world.