Michael Fowler: Juniors and midtiers poised for M&A-fueled breakout once gold recovers

The EPA will shut down an estimated 20% of the nation’s coal plants through the ground-level ozone rule (the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) ) through cap and trade that is about to be implemented in January 2012.

India's top iron ore miner NMDC Limited is close to acquiring a coking coal mine in Russia with an estimated reserve of about 70 million tonnes. The company will seek board approval for the acquisition within a few days.

For a few years up to 2009, demand for mining equipment finance was strong, but it then declined as companies cut back because of the international financial meltdown. Since the beginning of last year there has been an upswing in the financing of yellow metal assets. Data from WesBank shows that the financing of yellow metals is up 80% year on year, driven mainly by the South African mining sector.

Long stretches of fertile paddy fields in villages of Navelim-Kudnem-Sankhalim in North Goa, have turned into big dusty grounds with piles of iron ore stocked on it. Locals here claim that illegal mining industry is rapidly gulping landmasses, which were earlier fertile territories.

The state of Montana and Arch Coal, Inc. will line up together in state court Tuesday against environmental groups seeking to derail the company's plan to mine a 1.3 billion ton reserve within the most productive coal region of the country. St. Louis-based Arch has paid $159 million to the state and Great Northern Properties to lease the Otter Creek coal tracts, located near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.

British Telecom on Friday had to talk down the value of its 75 million miles of copper cables criss-crossing the United Kingdom after an analyst at investment bank Investec calculated that the scrap value of the copper is £50 billion ($77 billion) at today's prices – almost $50 billion more than BT's market cap.

Job growth in mining and mining-related work in Australia is expected to increase by over 100% by 2031, outpacing other sectors of the economy, The Courier-Mail is reporting. The website says the total mining workforce is tipped to more than double in the next 20 years, from an estimated 693,000 who are now directly and indirectly employed to 1.45 million staff Australia-wide:

Bloomberg reports the London Metal Exchange which handles some 80% of global trade in industrial metals futures, told members it may get a takeover offer after multiple approaches from potential bidders. The 134-year-old exchange is owned by the trading houses and banks like Barclays and JP Morgan that trade on the market which keeps fees low. Despite talk of an $1.2 billion offer as far back as 2008, it is unclear how receptive they would be to selling out after a senior executive of the exchange told Reuters in March it had no plans to change its independent status despite increasing competition, particularly in Asia.

The election of Michael Sata to president of Zambia is not sitting well with copper miners who fear the 73-year-old, known as "King Cobra" for his aggressive style, will pick the pockets of mining companies, Bloomberg reports. Sata swept to power this week on a promise to create jobs and to extract more money from the mining industry in Zambia, Africa's largest copper producer. His win on Sept. 20 ends two decades of rule by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy.