Newmont halts all operations in Indonesia, declares force majeure

Kazakh miner ENRC said a keenly awaited governance review was on track to deliver a fully independent board that would take all stakeholder interests into account, when posting first-half profit at the top end of expectations. Kazakh miner ENRC, whose image has been tarnished by the purchase of an asset the Congolese government expropriated from Canadian miner First Quantum last year and a very public boardroom spat, announced a three-month corporate governance review in June.

An Edmonton court was told on Wednesday that Norwegian energy giant Statoil will admit to some environmental infractions in relation to water use at its oil sands operations in northern Alberta. The news comes on the same day that the state-owned company announces a North Sea oil field discovery with total yield of between 500 million and 1.2 billion barrels of oil, making it the largest discovery there in 30 years. Around 70 oilfields are in production on the Norwegian continental shelf, producing some 2.1 million barrels per day. Canada's oil sands produce 1.5 million bpd, a figure that is expected to more than double by the end of the decade.

Impact  Silver Corp.  announced  on Wednesday additional drill results for the planned open pit Capire mine in the 200-square-kilometer Mamatla Mineral District, in central Mexico. Production plans at Capire are to first install a 200-tonne-per-day pilot plant (already purchased) to optimize mining and processing parameters toward planning for a larger operation in the future.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (pictured) said on Wednesday he will nationalize the gold industry, from mining through to processing, and move bullion reserves held in Europe to Venezuela's central bank. Toronto-listed Rusoro is the only large gold miner operating in Venezuela and the country does not feature in the top 20 global gold producing states. In late afternoon trading Rusoro had lost 6.67% in above average volumes. Rusoro holds a 50% interest in the Isidora gold mine that produced some 100,000 ounces last year. The Chavez government holds the rest.

A day after news of an onerous new mining royalty and taxation regime in Peru, Namibia, the world’s biggest miner of offshore diamonds and a top four uranium producer, drops plans for a huge jump in the corporate tax rate for miners and mineral export levies. Deputy Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein said on Wednesday, the country has withdrawn a proposal to increase the tax on non-diamond miners to 44% from 37.5% and will instead propose a windfall tax when international prices for the commodities are high. Namibia was one of 25 countries around the world that recently announced their intentions to increase their take of the mining industry’s profits or impose ownership and other restrictions.

The charitable foundation run by Sprott Assett Management's chief executive, Eric Sprott, announced Wednesday it is selling 2 million units in Sprott Physical Gold Trust and using the money to buy silver. The closed-end mutual fund trust holds 97% of its total net assets in physical gold bullion in London Good Delivery bar form. Eric Sprott is a well known investment manager and gold bug in Canada and personally holds 6,000,000 units of the trust worth about $94 million based on Wednesday's mid-afternoon price of $15.74 .

QMASTOR Limited – the leading supplier of software solutions for the global mining, ports, power and bulk commodity industries – was announced as the recipient of the Services Exporter Award at the Hunter Central Coast Export Awards 2011. Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, QMASTOR's systems are used to manage over 750 million tonnes of bulk commodity movements per annum. QMASTOR supports its global client base through offices located in Australia, Africa, South America and North America.

Iberian Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:IZN) today announced financial and operating results for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2011, with comparative figures for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2010. The Company reported net income of $47.80 million for Q2 2011, representing $0.13 per share.

David Frum, former President Bush speech writer and now blog publisher, inveighed against the gold standard one more time. "The United States adhered to the classic gold standard for a surprisingly short time: from 1873 until 1934 with a brief time-out during World War I. And for most Americans, the gold standard of 1873-1934 delivered pretty miserable results, including two terrible depressions (1893-1896 and 1929-1940) plus the long grinding squeeze of the deflation of 1873-1893," writes Frum.