Glencore’s talks to sell cobalt to Chinese firm falter on price

A BBC poll enquiring about the public's appetite for nuclear power has delivered some surprising results. The poll by GlobeScan, commissioned for the BBC, asked 23,231 people in 23 countries with nuclear programs their opinions on nuclear power. It found that most are significantly more opposed to nuclear power than they were in 2005, with just 22% agreeing that "nuclear power is relatively safe and an important source of electricity, and we should build more nuclear power plants."

Vancouver-based junior Prophecy Coal (TSE:PCY), which moved to the TSX main board last month, has landed a major deal to build a coal-fired power plant in Mongolia. The company said yesterday its subsidiary, Eat Energy Development LLC, has received a licence from the Mongolian Energy Regulatory Authority to construct the 600-MW Chandgana power plant. It is the first thermal power plant licence to be issued by the Mongolian government. Coal for the Chandgana mine-mouth power plant will be supplied from Prophecy’s Chandgana Tal ("Tal") Deposit, for which the company has already obtained a mining licence. Tal contains 141 million tonnes of measured coal and is located 9 km north of Prophecy’s Chandgana Khavtgai project, a deposit with over 1 billion tonnes of measured and indicated coal, Prophecy states.

The arrival of four tiger cubs in Tadoba – one of the country's oldest national parks – has brought cheers to wildlife lovers. However, rampant coal mining in Chandrapur and its surrounding areas pose a grave threat to tiger conservation and protection reports Hindustan Times. The Indian government has allotted more than six new coal mines in the periphery of Tadoba tiger reserve where already half a dozen coal mines are operating. Tadoba tiger reserve was in the news recently for better big cat conservation and birth of 32 tiger cubs in the area since January 2010. India's tiger population has dwindled from tens of thousands a century ago to a mere 1,411 according to the last census conducted in 2008.

The Business Standard reports a senior official from India's state department of fertilizers says so far the country's effort to secure potash imports at a better price by aiding Indian companies to acquire assets abroad has not made any breakthrough. The global potash market is controlled by about 10 mainly Canadian companies and a couple of Russian producers. With no local producers, India imports more than 6 million tonnes of muriate of potash a year for its 50 million small-scale farmers. Current pricing is around the $500/tonne level and Scotiabank recently said demand is weakening and after two years of steady price hikes 2012 will see no growth.

Due to euro jitters and the U.S. credit downgrade, investment demand in Europe for gold jumped 135% to a record quarterly value of €4.6 billion. On Thursday the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report for Q3 2011 was released. "The increase in overall investment demand was all the more impressive given the sharp gold price correction in September, which encouraged a wave of profit taking among bar and coin investors. Virtually all markets saw strong double-digit growth in demand for gold bars and coins," said the World Gold Council in a statement.

International Business Times reports that the Afghan mining ministry is leaning heavily towards two state-owned Indian mining firms to develop the country's massive Hajigak iron ore mine: "Afghanistan's minister of mines Wahidullah Shahrani said Steel Authority of  India  Ltd. (SAIL) and mineral giant NMDC Ltd. were leading the pack of overseas companies from Canada, US and Iran. A third Indian company, Ispat Alloys, was also included in the shortlist."
The article says a SAIL-led consortium has bid for all four Hajigak iron ore blocks, and that the Karzai-led government is giving preference to companies that could set up a steel plant. The contract is estimated to be worth some $6 billion.

Gold futures for December delivery dropped 3.2%  or $57 to $1,717.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange by early afternoon on Thursday. Gold's weakness flies in the face of new data from the World Gold Council showing investment demand at record highs and voracious jewelry demand from China, and investment bank Morgan Stanley picking gold as its top commodity for 2012 and predicting a price of $2,200 an ounce in the first half.

Australian legal firm Minter Ellison predicts that lifting the ban on Australian uranium exports could present significant opportunities for mining companies in Australia, as Indian and other foreign state-owned enterprises look for uranium exploration opportunities in that country. Mineweb quotes the firm's Energy and Resources partner Andrew Thompson: "This reversal comes as welcome news to Australian mining companies that are currently restricted by the policy. It will see an increase in uranium export markets, as well as opportunities for foreign direct investment and increased capital for Australian uranium projects. "Australian uranium explorers and producers would benefit from India's increasing use of nuclear energy, which is expected to grow from 3% to 40% of total domestic electricity consumption by 2050."

According to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report for the third quarter 2011 released today, demand reached 1,053.9 tonnes, an increase of 6% compared to the same period last year. This equates to $57.7bn, an all-time high in value terms. The increase was driven by investment demand which rose by 33% year-on-year to 468.1 tonnes, generating record quarterly demand of $25.6bn, and came despite a steep drop-off Indian jewellery demand which was down 26% thanks to disappointing Diwali sales.Chinese jewellery demand was 13% higher year-on-year at 131.0 tonnes and topped Indian sales for the first time as Chinese jewellers expand outside the bigger cities.