Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Global record high prices of gold as well as high domestic interest rates have affected imports of the yellow metal by the world's largest buyer, India, falling 9.11% in 2011 compared a year ago, the Bombay Bullion Association said on Monday.

Shares of US rare earths producer Molycorp Inc. plummeted 13% on Wednesday, trading for as low as $24.52 per share, after analyst JP Morgan slashed its price target on the stock to $39 from $57.

Australian miner Peak Resources has announced it will place 8 million new ordinary shares at $0.28 per share to be able to raise A$2.24 million to complete the initial works on the Ngualla Rare Earth Project in southern Tanzania.

InterOil Corporation of Papua New Guinea had secured a preliminary sales deal with Chinese company ENN for its first natural gas output, in what could be a thrust for InterOil to finally push its planned $6 Billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

Toronto-based junior miner Royal Coal Corp. on Wednesday announced it had secured a 234,000-tonne worth coal sales contracts for delivery starting January 2012.The company said the coal will be sourced from its Appalachian mines at an average sales price of $85 a tonne.

India's fuel stock at its 89 thermal power stations has fallen by 35 per cent from a year ago, the latest data from the Central Electricity Authority reveal.

Japan's Kobe Steel Ltd. and Steel Authority of India Ltd. are mulling to create a $284 million worth joint venture iron-making plant project in India that will employ the Japanese steel maker's new iron-making technology.

Australia will be soon seeing its first uranium concentrate shipment, after Chinese-owned Energy Metals signed an agreement to ship third-party uranium from Adelaide to its parent company in Shanghai.

China's Sfeco Group, a subsidiary of Shanghai Construction Group, is poised to buy the remaining 60 per cent stake of Chalice Gold Mines in the Zara project in Eritrea in eastern Africa for $100 million.

Qatar's nominal gross domestic product (GDP) had grown by 40 per cent during the third quarter compared a year ago, latest data from the Qatar Statistics Authority said.

Talisman Energy Inc. of Canada on Wednesday announced is it on the lookout for a business partner that will help the firm explore and develop four of 14 natural gas leases in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

After more than a six-month delay timeframe, Vale's humongous iron ore ship Berge Everest finally called on China's Dalian port.

Despite slowing domestic demand, prices of steel in India will maintain status quo levels in January, a top industry producer said.

Stricter U.S. regulations on pollution control, together with higher costs incurred in burning coal, have prompted Sunbury Generation LP, owner of one of the nation's oldest coal-fired power plants, to switch to natural gas by 2015.

China becomes first foreign nation to win rights to search for oil in war-torn Afghanistan.

China has introduced on Tuesday a pilot reform on its pricing system for natural gas. The new system links prices of domestic natural gas to imported fuels.

As emerging economies regale in their economic status, prompting citizens to increase their spending on luxury goods, including on diamonds, analysts forecast prices of the precious metal, although not really a new kid on the block, will grow in the next four years, and could possibly out win gold, another precious metal.

Brazil's Vale, the world's second biggest mining company, has announced plans to invest $12.9 billion to implement mining projects in various parts of the world in 2012.

With nations resorting to use cleaner fuel arising from concerns of unpredictable global weather changes, demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) will continue to soar in 2012 and possibly in the coming years. However, the said growth may not run in parallel with LNG prices.

Indian-backed Legacy Iron Ore is poised to acquire a 60 per cent control in Hawthorn Resources, a move that will see the accelerated development of the Mt Bevan magnetite project in Western Australia.

Gold prices held steady on Tuesday, lingering around $1,600 an ounce, as investors remained cautious on the fate of the eurozone debt crisis a few days before a tumultuous year wraps up.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced Chinese exporters of rare earths elements will be allowed to sell 10,546 tonnes of in the first six months of 2012, a 27 per cent reduction from the quota set for the first half of 2011.

China's largest coal producer, China Shenhua Group Co. Ltd., will be building in China within the next five years the largest thermal power project in all of Asia.

The consortium of seven Indian companies, led by state-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL), that won the mining rights to develop the huge Hajigak deposit in Central Afghanistan has requested assistance from the Indian government for $7.8 billion in state aid and loans to develop and push through with the project.

November exports of iron ore from Brazil grew 13 per cent to 23.2 million metric tonnes over October, according to latest data from Brazil's National Union of the Industry of Extraction of Iron and Base Metals.

Exports of iron ore from India to China fell sharply in November, statistics gathered by the Indian Ports Association showed.India's major state-owned ports shipped only 480 million tons of iron ore in November, a decline of 35.4 per cent from a year ago. Iron ore shipments through Paradip, one of the largest ports on India's east coast in Orissa, plummeted 88.4 per cent to 148.6 million tons. Iron ore exports through Visakhapatnam port likewise fell 35.7 per cent to 93.3 million tons....

News of falling gold prices may bad news for most, but not for China.Now is the most opportune time for China to buy more gold assets when prices of the yellow metal are dropping, to ensure the country maintains and protects a well-diversified foreign-exchange portfolio, Zhang Jianhua, Research Bureau Director at the People's Bank of China, said in the Financial News, a newspaper published by the Chinese central bank.

Appetite for gold in Singapore has been rising as residents prepare for the Year of the Dragon.

With more and more nations getting more environment conscious, it is not surprising that many had resorted to use either renewable energy or clean energy to fuel their respective energy requirements. A number of nations, such as China, India and South Korea have been importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) by millions of tonnes to meet domestic demand.