China coal imports seen cooling once Beijing reins in prices

Zijin Mining Group Co, China's largest gold producer by output, said Saturday that its net profits slumped 19.95 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2012 as the world's economic weakness and shrinking demand weighed on global gold prices.

Myanmar —until recently called Burma— is slowly but steadily starting to attract foreign investment, driven mainly by international resource firms eager to tap into the mineral-rich South East Asia's country.

Analysts from Foster Stockbroking told investors to purge their shares in rare earths miner Lynas Corporation as there is no end in sight for the ongoing problems that have forced the company to halt operations in Malaysia.

China is delivering on its promise to consolidate its mining industry with the formation of a new rare earth mega miner, the new “mega-corporation” will “team up” with rare earth producers in the provinces Shandong, Gansu and Sichuan.

The latest downturn in the price comes as iron ore stockpiles at Chinese ports climb by more than 420,000 tonnes in a week to almost 100 million tonnes.

Giant miner Rio Tinto is closing down its Blair Athol coal mine in Australia as the company considers whether to limit spending on new projects next year.

Xstrata has approved a $360 million expansion for its McArthur River mine in Australia’s Northern Territory which will make the project the largest producer of zinc in the world.

China's number one gold producer said Monday first-half revenues surged 61.4% to $7.8 billion compared to 2011 and should exceed $15.5 billion for the full year.

After adjusting for seasonality, the reading shows that the manufacturing sector is actually improving, thanks to the slew of stimulus measures implemented by the Chinese government.