Peruvian police burns down entire illegal gold mine town

In what it seems a move towards exiting the aluminum wire business, diversified miner Rio Tinto (LON & NYSE:RIO) announced it is selling its U.S.-based wire and cable business Alcan Cable to American company General Cable (NYSE: BGC) for $185 million.

The highly politicised nature of the Pebble Mine and mining development in general in the area makes any statement dangerous.

Copper saw a strong start to the trading week adding 1.8% following pro-growth comments by the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao over the weekend.

The state government has scrapped plans for a $8.8 billion coal terminal expansion project at Queensland's Abbot Point, Australia citing funding issues and environmental regulations, but China's slowing economy probably had more than a little to do with it.

Traders said support given to Greece to stay in the Eurozone at the weekend's G8 meeting and a stronger dollar hurt the yellow metal.

Gina Rinehart, the world of mining's 4th richest person, is meeting a fellow billionaire Stan Perron in the Australian supreme court this week in a fight over – no surprises here – iron ore royalties.

Iron ore prices fell on Monday to six-month lows of $130/tonne as Chinese steelmakers demand cargo deferrals or simply default on shipments.

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, global mining giant Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

The sharp turnaround in sentiment in the bullion market has some asking whether the rally is a dead cat bounce or perhaps the last chance to buy before prices rocket.