Chinese vessel collects cobalt samples in the Pacific – Xinhua

BHP Billiton is confident about sustained growth in China despite the worldwide market turmoil, Chairman of the world's biggest miner said on Wednesday. Speaking at a business lunch in Sydney, BHP Billiton Chairman Jacques Nasser said the global market turmoil has not changed the company's view of sustained growth in China. China buys about 30 percent of BHP's exports, and Nasser says the company is positive about China's future.

India Globalization Capital, Inc. (NYSE Amex: IGC), a company competing in the rapidly growing materials and infrastructure industry in India, announced that it has closed on a strategic partnership agreement to provide iron ore to Chinese steel mills.

SinoCoking Coal and Coke Chemical Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOK) (the "Company" or "SinoCoking"), a vertically-integrated coal and coke processor, today announced that Hongchang and Xingsheng coal mines have been cleared to resume operations at full capacity. The Hongchang mine has been operated by Baofeng Hongchang Coal Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Henan Pingdingshan Hongli Coal & Coke Co., Ltd. ("Hongli"), which the Company controls through contractual arrangements. Baofeng Xingsheng Coal Mining Co., Ltd. ("Xingsheng"), of which 60% equity interest is now registered to Hongli, has been operating the Xingsheng mine.

Copper prices may remain above $4 a pound in coming months, driven by a recovery in demand from China, according to Codelco, the world's largest producer. Chinese inventories seem to have decreased and now the industry is catching up again," Diego Hernandez, chief executive officer of the Chilean state-owned company, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Output from Chile, the world's largest copper producer, may miss a target of 5.6 million metric tons in 2011 by 5 percent because of project delays, weather disruption and strikes at mine sites. Codelco plans to spend about $20 billion this decade to boost annual production to meet forecast rising global demand for copper.

Peabody Energy Corp. is leaving the door open for a rival bidder to step in for Macarthur Coal Ltd. by offering less for the Australian mining company than it did last year, even as profit is projected to double.

Australia's Treasurer Wayne Swan may soon have another foreign investment headache on his hands, as a Chinese entrepreneur says he has Beijing's backing to step around Australian investment rules and become the world's fourth force in iron ore. Liu Han, chairman Hanlong Group said the company could achieve it within 10 years, giving China ''a say'' in iron-ore price negotiations and stem as much as $80 billion in national losses flowing to the big producers.

SF Diamond Co., a Chinese maker of drill bits and cutting tools, gained the most since its trading debut in Shenzhen more than five months ago after saying first- half profit rose 7 percent from a year earlier. SF Diamond’s first-half earnings report implies a 53 percent increase in second-quarter net income from a year earlier, compared with a 57 percent decline for profit in the first-three months of the year. The company, based in the city of Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province, said first- quarter profits fell partly due to one-time expenses associated with its listing.

China’s Wing Hing said on Thursday that it planned to buy up to 87% of South African gold company Taung Gold for $580-million to take advantage of the surging gold price. Gold continued to hit record highs above $1 620/oz this week as concerns over the prospect of a US debt default grew, prompting investors to buy the precious metals as a haven from risk.

China Briefing News reports state-owned Shenhua, the leader of a joint Chinese, Mongolian, Russian, and US consortium awarded the western block of Mongolia's Tavan Tolgoi coking coal field – the world's largest – faces a rocky road ahead to bring the project to fruition. According to CBN the political structuring is typical but none of the three operators have given public explanations as to how they may proceed or even work together. While losing bidders from Brazil, India and South Korea are smarting, Japan have gone so far as to call the bidding process'extremely regrettable'. And all this while Mongolia hopes to raise as much as $5 billion privatizing Tavan Tolgoi early next year.