Areva reaches uranium mining deal with Niger, delays project

India Globalization Capital, Inc. (NYSE Amex: IGC), a company competing in the rapidly growing materials and infrastructure industry in India, announced that it has closed on a strategic partnership agreement to provide iron ore to Chinese steel mills.

First Quantum announced a 51% increase in gross profit as the 41% higher net realized copper price more than offset the lower sales volume. There was a 3% decrease in copper production from the Kansanshi and Guelb Moghrein mines due to maintenance-related downtime at both operations and the processing of low-grade, high acid consuming oxide ore at Kansanshi.

Leighton Holdings has sold mining services provider HWE Mining to BHP Billiton. 9News reports that Leighton has signed a heads of agreement for the sale of HWE, which accounts for close to 70% of BHP's iron ore mining in Western Australia. The sale is worth $1.1 billion, along with $1.4 billion worth of contracts in hand.

Brazilian mining titan Vale SA (VALE) said Tuesday the first coal train arrived Monday at the Mozambican port of Beira. The first train carried 2,200 metric tons of coal from Vale's Moatize coal mine in the northwest province of Tete.

SinoCoking Coal and Coke Chemical Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOK) (the "Company" or "SinoCoking"), a vertically-integrated coal and coke processor, today announced that Hongchang and Xingsheng coal mines have been cleared to resume operations at full capacity. The Hongchang mine has been operated by Baofeng Hongchang Coal Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Henan Pingdingshan Hongli Coal & Coke Co., Ltd. ("Hongli"), which the Company controls through contractual arrangements. Baofeng Xingsheng Coal Mining Co., Ltd. ("Xingsheng"), of which 60% equity interest is now registered to Hongli, has been operating the Xingsheng mine.

North Country Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:NCG) (NCG or the "Company") announces the third tranche of results from the 2011 drill program at the Three Bluffs Gold Project in the Committee Bay Greenstone Belt located northeast of Baker Lake, Nunavut, Canada. Drilling has intersected high grade gold to depth and along strike, west of the current resource area at the Three Bluffs and Three Bluffs West zones, increasing the strike length of the core Three Bluffs zones to over 1300 metres. Drilling has also confirmed the presence of mineralization over an additional 700 metres of strike between the Three Bluffs West and Antler zones.

As the country marked Heroes Day, Robert Mugabe used the occasion to make fresh threats to punish foreign owned companies from Western countries that have imposed targeted sanctions on him and his key ZANU PF officials. The US and European Union slapped the sanctions on Mugabe and his cronies because of human rights abuses.

Thompson Creek announced revenue for the second quarter of 2011 was $190.9 million, up 28.6% from $148.4 million in the second quarter of 2010. Revenue for the first six months of 2011 was $397.6 million, up 44% from $276.2 million for the same period in 2010. Sales volumes for the second quarter of 2011 were 10.8 million pounds, up 25% from 8.6 million pounds in the second quarter of 2010. Sales volumes for the first six months of 2011 were 22.4 million pounds, up 30.4% from 17.2 million pounds for the same period in 2010.

The price of crude slid more than six per cent Monday, dropping to a level experts say makes future oilsands mining projects look unprofitable if it persists.