Orvana Minerals to suspend operations at Los Tojas in Bolivia, stock down

Institutional advisor ISS now says tie-up is a good thing for Xstrata, but they still don't like the $200 million retention package.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos presented Friday a package of measures, including a proposed bill before congress, aimed to making illegal mining a crime punished by the country’s Penal Code.

Canada's Inmet Mining Corp (TSX:IMN) posted a 19% rise in third-quarter profit, as copper production and prices improved.

Canadian miners Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. (TSX:PTQ) and Inmet Mining Corp. (TSX:IMN) have been on the news in recent weeks as the companies locked horns over land rights near the Cobre Panama copper project, run by Inmet’s subsidiary Minera Panama.

TransCanada Corp. (TSX,NYSE:TRP) will invest about $1 billion in a new natural gas pipeline in Mexico after being granted a permit to contract to build, own and operate the duct by the country's federal power company, the Comision Federal de Electricidad or CFE.

Cost burdens continue to upset Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE, TSX: ABX), as the globe's top gold miner hiked Thursday its cash cost guidance for 2012 and warned that costs at its massive Pascua-Lama project will be almost three times more than the $3 billion announced in 2009.

BHP will in time set up similar facilities for its Queensland coal mines and at its Escondida copper mine in Chile.

The European Commission said Wednesday it is delaying the deadline to emit a verdict on Glencore International PLC's $70 billion merger proposal with Xstrata (LON:XTA) after Glencore (LON:GLENA) made concessions to reduce EU concerns about too much potential concentration of interests in northern Europe.

Even shareholders choking on $200 million of management bonuses, may have to okay the compensation if they want the deal to go ahead. But Xstrata may have other options beside Glencore.