Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Varied railway freight duties, coupled with high export taxes and the continued mining ban in India's major iron ore areas will all the more affect the country's exports of the key steelmaking ingredient in 2012 to 2013.

One-time tax-related charges instituted in the first three months of the year have affected the profit of Canadian miner Kinross Gold Corp., falling by as much as 57 per cent in the first quarter.

Now that Japan is totally without nuclear power, having shut down its last working nuclear reactor over the weekend, producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) ought to brace themselves as the country shifts to import more of the said commodity to fuel its energy needs.

A new remote sensing satellite has been hurtled into space by China, the world's second-largest economy, on Sunday.

Canadian miner Gabriel Resources Ltd., whose Rosia Montana gold mine project in Romania continues to get delayed due to the absence of a key environmental permit, said Romania stands to lose some $30 billion in earnings as the project gets stalled.

KazAtomProm, Kazakhstan's national nuclear company, as part of a number of signed agreements between Kazakhstan and Japan earlier in the week, said on Thursday it wants to begin exporting nuclear fuel components to Japan by as early as 2013.

KazAtomProm, Kazakhstan's national nuclear company is determined to begin exporting nuclear fuel components to Japan by as early as 2013. KazAtomProm said on Thursday after a number of signed agreements between Kazakhstan and Japan earlier in the week.

Higher gold prices, which rose 22 per cent from a year ago, have helped boost the profit earnings of Canadian miner Eldorado Gold Corp. by 29 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.

Unlike their US and Western counterparts whose economies have been largely saddled by the global fiscal uncertainty, China and India, along with members of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) group, have been forecast to continue their growth of momentum well beyond year 2030.

Amidst the fiscal uncertainty that continues to affect the world, China's manufacturing activity continued to rally for the fifth straight month in April, hinting economic movement in factories of the world's second-largest economy is recovering and stabilizing.

Apparently irked to the brim over the misplaced information and emotional blackmail being fed to the locals where its Lynas Advance Materials Plant (LAMP) is located, Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp. had upped its arms and taken legal action against a protest group as well as a number of media outlets in Malaysia.

To further expand bilateral strategic cooperation through trade and investment links between their nations, China and Russia over the weekend inked some 27 agreements worth $15 billion that mostly includes partnerships on energy, equipment, IT and finance.

Determined to rely less on China for its supply of the critical rare earths elements, Japan is set to sign with Kazakhstan on May an agreement to jointly develop rare earth mines mainly to exploit the rare earth metal dysprosium, a critical ingredient to electronics and auto makers.

Prices of safe haven precious yellow metal gold may do a seesaw every once in a while, but there is no doubting that it will sustain a bull market with much higher prices in the years to come, primarily anchored and supported by the acquisition of central banks.

Beleaguered Australian miner Lynas Corp., whose Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Malaysia continues to be embroiled in a nasty game of domestic politicking and misinformed public, has been given a thumbs up for safety and low radiation emission no less than by a Malaysian radiology expert.

Gold and copper mining firm Anglo Asian Mining PLC, after two years of exploration work, on Monday announced it has discovered gold at the Ordubad mine in Azerbaijan.

Royal Philips Electronics has started working on a technology that will significantly reduce its dependence on rare earth minerals for creating its light-emitting diode (LED) lighting products.

Yemen LNG, run by France's Total, has resumed normal operations three weeks after a bombing at the Marib-Balhaf gas pipeline forced it to stop operations as well as production.

The three-digit trading prices of iron ore currently enjoyed in the world market has been predicted to plummet in the next seven years to a tight two-digit price with the influx of African type iron ore, a new research has shown.

Higher oil and gas prices, the takeoff of new projects in Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam, coupled with improved weather conditions and a modification in accounting practices proved to be allies that helped advance the revenues and production output of Santos Ltd. this first quarter of 2012.

Demand by the jewellery market of China has been forecast to soar 35 per cent in the next five years as Chinese locals get to increase their financial worth with a growing disposable income.

OZ Minerals, owner of the Prominent Hill copper mine project in South Australia, is eyeing potential copper and gold mining targets in Chile and Peru.

As quality mineral reserves continue to decelerate and grow thinner, spurred by the world's increasing urbanisation and technological advancements, the very miners that capitalised on these reserves will face jumping operating costs to double in the next five to ten years.

South African miner Gold Fields has increased the initial investment on its Chucapaca gold project in Peru to $1.2 billion from $750 million, confident the gold project will receive the necessary support of nearby communities, social action groups as well as government related procedures in securing regulatory permits amid earlier misfortunes experienced by other firms of other Peruvian mining projects.

Pele Mountain Resources Inc., a Toronto-based mining firm, announced on Tuesday it has entered into a binding agreement to sell its Highland Gold projects to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Prodigy Gold Inc. for $1.8-million.

Brazilian miner Vale SA, the world's biggest iron ore producer, has said it is open to working with state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA towards a possible project cooperation on rare earths.

Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co., Ltd., saddled by an unsteady supply source of rare earths, on Tuesday announced it has developed a technological approach that would recycle at least 80 per cent of used rare earths metals in hybrid car batteries.

After a long and arduous battery of routine inspections, not to mention many power failures and blackouts, Japan is ready to resume using nuclear energy after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda last week declared that two reactors were already safe to reactivate and operate after having passed undergoing computerized "stress tests".

With only 54 of its nuclear plants working, Japan's crude oil, heavy fuel oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) consumption had surged in the last fiscal year ending March 31.