World Gold Council expects metal demand, prices to stay strong

Vancouver, B.C. Monument Mining Limited (TSX-V: MMY and FSE: D7Q1) ("Monument" or the "Company") announces its intention to carry out a non-brokered private placement of up to 156,250,000 units at a price of $0.45 per unit for gross proceeds to the Company of up to $70,000,000 (the "Offering"). Each unit will consist of one common share and one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.67 per share for a period of 36 months from the closing of the Offering.

World energy consumption is set to grow 53% by 2035 and most of that energy will be coming from fossil fuels, according to a study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. While energy consumption will grow slowly in the U.S. and Europe, countries like China and India that are growing their industrial base will be gobbling up more and more energy.

Reuters reports China will extend a resource tax – calculated on value rather than volume of production – on domestic sales of crude oil and natural gas from some regions to the whole country and expand the list of taxable resources to coking coal and rare earths from November 1. The move, billed as a way of conserving resources and limiting environmental damage, is part of a long-awaited tax reform that would enrich the coffers of local governments but slash the earnings of resource companies, such as PetroChina Co, China National Petroleum Corp and Baotou Steel Rare Earths by billions of dollars each year. The tax on rare-earth ores will be levied according to a wide range of between yuan 0.4 – 60 per ton and between yuan 8 – 20 a tonne on coking coal.

The Wall Street Journal reports Mongolia is relaunching talks with international miners on developing the western block of Tavan Tolgoi in the South Gobi desert, the world’s largest deposit of high-quality coking coal used in steelmaking. Mongolia's National Security Council rejected a deal struck with US giant Peabody Energy, China's Shenhua and a Russian-Mongolian consortium mid-September, just two months after they were announced as winners. At the time losing bidders from Brazil, India and South Korea raised serious concerns and Japan went so far as to call the bidding process 'extremely regrettable'. Mongolia still hopes to privatize its Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi coal-mining company which controls the remainder of the 6 billion tonne resource for upwards of $3 billion next year.

A new report from research firm TNS could have implications for mining. A survey of affluent households around the world — defined as greater than $100,000 — found that 80% of the world's wealthy live in Western countries.TNS's Global Affluenty Investor study conducted interviews across 24 markets including China, Brazil and India.

Poor geological conditions in Sichuan region, which frequently suffers landslides and flooding due to the precipitous slopes and poor ground stability, are now facing worse conditions due to mining.

Copper traders and analysts are the most bullish since August on speculation prices at a one-year low will spur China, the world's largest buyer, to build stockpiles.

AFP reports a blue-and-white Ming vase fetched nearly $22 million in Hong Kong on Wednesday, setting a new record at auction for porcelain from the 15th century Chinese dynasty. The vase went for more than double the lower pre-sale estimate, but at Sotheby's jewels and jadeite auction held at the same time the 9.27-carat Golconda Pink diamond with an estimate of $13 million – $19 million went unsold. Hong Kong is now the world's third-largest auction centre after New York and London, thanks to China's rapidly growing number of millionaires.

John Garnaut identifies a disturbing trend for iron ore exporters, with Chinese steel prices falling and iron ore prices expected to follow, he writes in the Sydney Morning Herald. Garnaut quotes Chinese analysts saying that capacity utilization is declining because steel demand and prices are falling, while the prices for raw materials used in steelmaking — namely coal and iron ore — remain high. The steel and iron ore markets were bracing for "volatility on a declining trend", said Yin Jimei, an analyst at Iron & Steel Information Website in Tangshan. Xu Xiangchun, at Mysteel in Shanghai, said market anxieties over the global economy have coincided with softening domestic demand including a decline in railway construction due to a series of scandals in the Ministry of Railways.