Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Shifts in the weather patterns and a supply overstock have steadied spot prices of Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) for December delivery.

Investments, by way of standard market forces, after a 10-year bullish cycle, ultimately goes down into bearish momentum. But not in the case of gold futures, as prices are foreseen to further shoot up and hit $2,000 per ounce by mid-2012.

Australian phone company Telstra International has been awarded three new licenses to provide customers in India Internet and national and international long-distance telecoms services under its joint venture with Microland.

Australian sales of new vehicles in October posted a 5.3 per cent growth performance over a year ago, data from the Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive released Friday showed.

Prices of copper recovered losses on Friday on hopes Greece will no longer push for a planned referendum on its bailout package and after the European Central Bank slashed its benchmark interest rate, whetting anew investor appetite for the raw commodity.

China, the world's leader in mineral consumption and production, still has a large amount of unexplored mineral resources, despite recording a growing number of large-scale mines in the country.

As mining firms and other companies outside China race to seize the opportunities and potential profits found in rare earth metals, only a number will actually flourish in exploring the industry due to lack of technology and expertise.

Rare earth minerals have suddenly flooded in the Chinese market, forcing a major plummet in prices, days after the China federal government announced the implementation and issuance of specialized invoices for its rare earth minerals sector.

The heat goes on for the debacle on Australia's controversial 30 per cent minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) as small- and mid-sized Australian mining company executives debunked the proposed mining law saying the smaller mining firms are at most risk with it.

What could be the most opportune time than now for Strategic Airlines to launch its newest low cost airline, Air Australia, after Australia's aviation travel and tourism suffered a major blow due to a debilitating industrial action in one of its major air carriers.

Global manufacturing continued to stagnate in October, with the shaky eurozone threatening to drag other economies into recession.

Indian coal miner Coal India Ltd., struggling to meet production targets, has accelerated efforts to buy unlisted overseas firms after receiving approval from the Indian Finance Ministry.

In a bid to address China's electric power shortages, China Power International Development Ltd. and China Coal Energy Co. Ltd. have announced a $784 million joint venture to build and operate coal-fired plants in the northern province of Shanxi.

In a bid to conserve energy and resources, limit environmental damage and boost revenues of local governments, China has started implementing this month an extended regional sales-based tax on domestic sales of crude oil and natural gas. In the near term, the said sales tax will also be slapped on coking coal and rare earths.

Notwithstanding prices of coking coal projected to fall further into 2012, Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd. together with Mitsubishi Corp. of Japan has approved a $4.2 billion expansion deal for two coal projects in central Queensland.

Australia has been listed as the sixth among 28 big economies that bribes public officials on overseas business meets, according to a survey by the Transparency International titled 2011 Bribe Payers Index (BPI).

Namoi Cotton Cooperative Ltd., Australia's largest cotton processor, has received a much needed marketing boost from the China National Cotton Group.

Price fluctuations and production surges of precious metals have largely been determined by how investors cling to their investments.

It seems Australia's terms of trade have reached its highpoint, and now has no other way to go but down, confirming speculations that the country's economy has lost a bit of steam.

The copper consumption by the world's second-largest economy will continue to slow down in 2012 as construction of new homes in China continue to lessen, auto sales remain slow-moving, and railroad investments remain low.

Australia's controversial 30 percent minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) law gets introduced to Parliament on Wednesday amid political grandstanding and divided sentiment of voters.

Australian coal seam gas producer QGC has entered into an agreement with GE and Penrice Consortium to build a brine pilot plant (BPP) at Penrice's chemical works at Osborne, South Australia.

In what seems to be a confirmation to earlier reports that China has been offered to purchase iron ore for fourth-quarter contracts at a much cheaper rate, a top official from China's steel had verified that Chinese steel companies are discussing to set-up a new pricing mechanism with the world's big miners, a move seen to benefit both iron ore suppliers and consumers.

Growth in China's manufacturing sector had dropped in October, suggesting the economy of the world's second-largest market player continued its gradual slowdown in response to government measures to cool growth and temper high inflation.

China, the world's foremost supplier of rare earth minerals, will be introducing in November specialised invoices for designated rare earth producers to curb the rampant illegal production of the rare earth elements in the country.

A Supreme Court-led inquiry has recommended that the state government of New South Wales considering privatising the rest of its electricity industry.

A few years from now, Australia will become the world leader in the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, and could become its third leading commodity export, next to iron ore and coal.

Rio Tinto, along with 10 other Australian companies, have been made part of an Australia-Nigeria Trade and Investment Council to look into possible investment opportunities in Nigeria's mining, agriculture and financial services sectors.

If there is one trend these days, it is the acquisition of gold bullion by nervous investors and global markets. This "fear index" will likely fuel gold futures to further soar in the coming months.