EU starts investigation into Chinese steel wheel imports

NumberSleuth produced a fantastic gold infographic illustrating all the major trends: how much above-ground gold (gold that has been mined) is there in all the world, and how much gold gets mined per year worldwide?

The China Iron and Steel Association expects the country's crude steel consumption to rise 4% and peak at 700 million tonnes this year.

CHINESE trader Guangdong Guangxin Holdings has signed an $89 million deal to boost its interests in Australian base metals by buying a quarter of the Mineral Hill copper and goldmine in NSW and a 15 per cent stake in mine owner KBL Mining.

Canadian oil producer Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. (TSX: ATH) has exercised its option to sell its remaining 40 per cent interest in the MacKay River oil sands project to Cretaceous, a unit of Chinese oil giant PetroChina for about C$680 million.

2011 will go down as the year when the wind fell out of the sails of economic recovery and serious storm clouds gathered on the horizon.

If 2010 was the year of rising commodity prices, 2011 was the year of The Deal.

Canadian Silvercorp Metals (TSX: SVM-News)(NYSE: SVM-News), China’s biggest silver miner that was accused this year of accounting and production fraud in anonymous letters to authorities, has retained independent consultants to confirm resource estimates at four of its properties.

Three Chinese companies are part of consortiums that have bagged Rs 1,800-crore worth of five contracts awarded by state-owned Hindustan Copper to raise its production four-fold to 12 million tonnes over the next five years.

A once-abandoned copper mine in New South Wales, Australia is being revitalized through a partnership with a Chinese company.