Esther Tanquintic-Misa

On the very same day that China declared one of its nuclear power energy companies is mulling an initial public offering (IPO) to fund its projects, another company has announced receiving funding boost from its parent company.

Nuclear power use may have abruptly lost its appeal in 2011 because of Japan's nuclear reactor disaster, but suffice to say, it is bound to stage a powerful comeback, thanks to the energy requirements of the emerging economies in the very same Asian continent where the world's third-largest economy is located.

China has decided to go on full scale with its nuclear power programme in anticipation of a massive energy requirement from a growing and urbanizing population.

The massive demand for iron ore by Indian steel mills has encouraged the Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-biggest mining company, to consider earlier plans of setting up an iron ore mine in the country.

Indonesia, the world's top thermal coal exporter, is looking into implementing duties on its exports of the raw commodity to save more for domestic use, a risk which could mean losing some $11 billion for its national coffers.

Africa still holds the key to the best gold discoveries among all gold-bearing countries in the world, irrespective of the political upheavals and armed uprising in that region, the chief executive of Montreal-based Semafo Inc. (SMF) said.

Coal miners in Canada continue to remain bullish on the fate of the sector in the world market amid dropping prices and an oversupply in China, the second-largest economy and also one of the world's largest consumers of the raw basic commodity.

Oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil Corp. could be exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States anytime soon.

Abu Dhabi's flagship carrier, Etihad Airways, in support of its expansion plans, announced on Tuesday it has acquired a 4 per cent controlling stake in Virgin Australia Holdings.

With mounting concerns on the environmental preservation of the Great Barrier Reef that now includes the UNESCO, the federal government had halted the final approval of the coal mine project initiated by Gina Rinehart's Hancock Coal and India's GVK.

India, a country vastly rich in mineral resources, has ironically started to import iron ore, the key ingredient to steel making, the newspaper Economic Times reported.

Matamec Explorations Inc., developer of the Kipawa rare earths project in western Quebec, announced on Monday its mineral processing pilot plant operations for the rare earths project have already went online.

China Airlines Ltd. and EVA Airways Corp., top two air passenger carriers of Taiwan, expect second quarter profits to recover on the prevailing inexpensive prices of aircraft turbine fuel.

Tanzania has started to earn from the royalty rates under its new Mining Act in 2010, The Citizen newspaper reported.

Utilising the power of digital technology and social media, Tourism Australia (TA) launched on Monday a $250-million tourism campaign, primarily to lure the Chinese market, where some 100 million have been forecast to will tour the world by 2020.

Australia may yet have its biggest independent listed coal miner after shareholders of Gloucester Coal gave their unanimous approval today to its proposed merger with China's Yancoal Australia.

Unnerved by a slowing Chinese economic growth, Germany's Volkswagen AG over the weekend announced a massive shakeup of its top level honchos to realise ambitious growth plans in the second-largest economy.

China will introduce effective Friday the issuance of a rare earths specialised value-added tax invoice system to its industry producers and miners in a bid to curb the rampant illegal mining of rare earths in its country, amid plans of building a national rare earths inventory reserve to regulate price fluctuations.

The board of Perth-based Norton Gold Fields has unanimously recommended and advised its shareholders to accept the $229 million takeover bid of Zijin Mining Group, China's biggest gold producer.

BHP Billiton Ltd. continued to reiterate board approvals to pending projects will not be tackled until end of the year, even as it welcomed the latest positive development bequeathed by Australian government authorities on the planned expansion of its Port Hedland harbor in the country's Pilbara region.

Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore miner, on Thursday announced it is suspending the operations of its Carborough Downs coal mine in Australia in compliance to a government directive after irregular levels of carbon monoxide were detected in the mine.

Australian mining company Mindoro Resources Ltd. is out to spin off its gold and copper assets in the Philippines to focus on the development of its Agata nickel project, also in the same country.

Can there really still be a mining boom for Australia in the future? Or should it better take stock of inventories and salvage what it can from an overrated golden mining era?

Government authorities from China's province of Liaoning have confirmed the discovery of a large iron ore reserve by Fushun Hanking Maogong Mining Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Hanking Holdings Limited.

Molycorp Inc.'s business plan to become a one-stop rare earths shop facility is almost on its heels after shareholders of its acquisition target, Neo Material Technologies Inc,. unanimously approved its takeover bid of the Canadian rare earths processor.

Long-term prices of uranium have been on the upswing, a first since the devastating 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis that not only affected Japan but the entire uranium industry as well, the Financial Post reported, citing information from the trade publication Ux Consulting.

The Indian consortium that will mine copper and gold in Afghanistan is expected to meet on the first week of June to discuss each member's equity shareholding after due diligence work on the mineral deposits has been completed.

Wilkie Creek coal mine, U.S. firm Peabody Energy Corp.'s asset in Australia, is being eyed for possible acquisition by South Korea's LG International.

Up on its toes to fill its energy requirements, Japan, for the first time ever, has imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) even from as far as Spain and Brazil.