Strike at Shougang’s iron ore mine in Peru halts exports-manager

Twenty-eight miners were still trapped underground Thursday while 63 others were rescued after a fire broke out in a coal mine in China's Shandong province Wednesday night, Xinhua reported. A total of 91 people were trapped after an air compression device located in a parking lot 255 metres underground caught fire at 6.45 p.m. Wednesday, a provincial government spokesman said.

A buildup of volatile gas hampered rescue efforts in one Chinese coal mine and water continued to pour into another as emergency crews raced to reach 42 people trapped yesterday for a second day, officials and state media reports said. The accidents — a cave-in at one mine and a flood at the other — occurred on Saturday in two southern provinces after days of heavy rains.

Widely respected economist in China, Li Yining of Peking University, has joined a chorus of advisers urging the Chinese government to increase the country’s gold reserves as a hedge against inflation of foreign currencies. “China should increase its gold reserves appropriately, and China must take every chance to buy, especially when gold prices fall,” Li told China’s Xinhua news agency.

The total gold reserves of central banks worldwide fell by 9.6 per cent between 2000 and 2008 but has subsequently increased by 2.2 per cent from 29,870 tonnes in 2008 to 30,535 tonnes at the end of 2010. This is mainly a result of rising demand for gold from central banks with surplus liquidity in some emerging markets, such as China, India, Russia and oil producing countries in the Middle East region.

Rescuers were racing against time on Saturday to reach 40 miners buried underground in two separate coal mine disasters which have already killed three people in south China. Work crew operated at least 17 pumps at Niupeng Mine in rural Guizhou Province to release water from the flooded mine before rescuers could be sent down the pit.

Police have arrested two men in connection with a theft of platinum worth over NT$44 million from a high-tech company in Hsinchu County, officials said yesterday. Police also managed to recover 18 kilograms of platinum from the suspects during the arrests in Taoyuan

The China Post reports two of China's largest rare earths producers Rising Nonferrous Metals Share Co. and Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-tech Co. — the listed arms of state-owned companies — said they signed a deal this week to cooperate extensively in the sector. China’s tightening grip on the market became clear last week when Hong Kong customs data showed rare earth ores, metals and compounds exports fell 11% over a single month while at the same time the value of exports surged 242%. News out on Friday of safety delays for a rare earth refinery in Malaysia that would have supplied some 39% of the elements outside China is expected to put further pressure on prices.

Chinese energy companies are looking to grab a stake in western Canada’s abundant oil sands to support China’s growing and developing appetite for oil. Despite an increasing awareness of environmental issues and movement towards cleaner forms of energy, reality still dictates that the majority of the world runs on oil.

China's insatiable demand for commodities has prompted a tripling in the price of mining truck tyres, making them more expensive than a Mercedes sportscar. Prices for tyres about 3.5 meters wide used on the Caterpillar trucks that haul iron ore and coal have touched $93,500 on the spot market, according to Leighton Holdings, a contractor for mining companies including BHP Billiton. Prices rose as high as $140,000 in 2008.