Miner among Africa’s top 10 female business leaders

A dispute between investment banker Euro Pacific Canada Inc. and Midlands Minerals Corp. (CVE:MEX) is drawing in two of the biggest names in the gold investing industry. The Globe and Mail is reporting that Euro Pacific Canada is seeking damages of $10 million from Midlands over a breach of contract — an amount that is actually larger than the tiny explorer's market cap of $7.21 million based on today's counter.

Gold for December delivery had shed $40 or more than 2% by lunchtime coming close to breaching the $1,600/oz level in New York before before regaining some ground to trade at $1,618 an ounce by early afternoon. Traders said the metal is likely to remain a “dead trade” until it can resume its role as a fear barometer and is able to rally in face of equities weakness and that a "solid downtrend" has now been established. Some analysts are saying gold's precipitous $300 drop in September represented a fundamental market shift and that gold's fall despite market volatility and economic uncertainty means the metal has lost its safe haven status and is being treated like any other commodity.

The rout in industrial metals has claimed another victim: iron ore. On the same day that copper tumbled nearly 7% for its biggest slide in a month, Bloomberg reports that iron ore's largest decline in 15 months is showing no signs of recovery, according to analysts:

Reuters reports Outokumpu said it expected to report a significant operating loss in its final quarter as weak demand and prices continued to hit margins forcing the stainless steel maker to cut up to 1,300 jobs in an effort to reduce costs after brought on by the declining value of its raw material inventories. While Europe's woes have been well-documented, the Finnish multinational's announcement is further evidence of a changing dynamic in the iron ore and steel market. On Tuesday Chinese steel mills forced the world’s number one iron ore producer Vale to bend over contract pricing after falls in the spot iron ore price.

The UK Daily Record reports a judge hearing how four miners died following safety breaches in 2006 and 2007 at Britain's biggest mining firm – UK Coal – has indicated he will not impose fines at a level which would "cripple" a company which in court was described as being in a "pretty desperate situation". UK Coal is a shadow of its former self – in May 2008 it was trading at £5.84 while on Thursday in London trade the company exchanged hands for 34p giving it a market capitalization of not much more than £100 million.

In the never-ending quest to find really cool places to roller blade, film makers must have scored a coup when they were given permission to "bomb" down a defunct Polish salt mine. The high speed stunt went viral on YouTube with over 300,000 views since it was uploaded this summer.

Aecon Group Inc.’s Industrial West Division has been awarded two contracts worth $132 million for fabrication and module assembly work for an un-named oil sands operator in Fort McMurray, Alta. The Toronto-based construction and infrastructure development company said the contracts are for two large steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 20, 2011) - Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. (TSX VENTURE:QRE)(OTCQX:QREDF)(FRANKFURT:BR3) (http://www.quantumrareearth.com/) CEO Peter Dickie is calling for the U.S. to accelerate effor...

Boss Power Corp. has agreed to surrender to the Province of British Columbia all claims to its uranium exploration and mining rights at the Blizzard Uranium Deposit in the Kamloops-Kelowna region. The legal agreement supports the Province's goal of ensuring mining exploration is safe, sustainable and economically benefits British Columbians. In 2008, the Province announced that it would not support uranium exploration and development, and prohibited related permits being issued to any company in 2009. At that time, Boss Power Corp. held a pre-existing claim to uranium deposits in that area.