IronRidge to sell May Queen project to Australasian Gold

Speculation is running and some of what is being said strikes at the heart of the culture and values of the company, chief executive officer Jean-Sébastien Jacques said in an internal memo.

Offer came on the heels of Kirkland Lake's move to buy fellow bullion miner Newmarket Gold (TSX:NMI) in an all-stock deal worth about Cdn$1 billion ($764 million).

Alan Davies suspended after miner found payments made to consultant in 2011, when he was in charge of the iron ore project.

Ecuador began last month granting licences for new exploration areas, with over 300 of them to be awarded by the year-end.

The most-traded coking coal for January delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange soared 10% to 1,516 yuan ($224) a tonne, a record high.

The stock jumped after it announced it had fetched $8.3 million for 1,864 carats of rough diamonds from its Lulo project.

The deal includes a 17% interest in the Port Kembla Coal Terminal, south of Sydney.

As part of the deal, CAT is expected to become the primary sales, marketing, distribution and support channel for Trimble’s Connected Mine platform.

"It would of obvious strategic benefit for China to control a major iron ore deposit and add new supply to discipline the market."