The newly-merged company released its IMS& First Quarter 2013 Production Report on May 13.

The company's stock was up 1.45% to GBX348.90 (US$536.12).

The company highlighted that its own copper production in Africa was 83,600 tonnes in Q1 2013, a 44% increase from last year's Q1.

The companies mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mutanda and Katanga, were credited with the production jump. Annual copper cathode production at the two mines are expected to reach 270,000 tonnes and 200,000 tonnes respectively when expansion is completed this year.

Glencore Xstrata began trading May 2 after clearing regulatory hurdles. The $30 billion deal was one of the largest mining deals ever.

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Over several millenia ago civilizations in the ancient Near East and Asia made use of the plant extract as a dye to impart fabrics with colours such as orange, red and pink.

Modern scientists have discovered that the plant extract can also be employed as an electrode in biomass batteries, thus obviating the need to mine costly or environmentally harmful minerals such as cobalt.

According to Dr. Leela Reedy, a research scientist from Rice University who is a lead author on the project, the extraction and processing of cobalt is highly expensive, while the manufacture and recycling of standard lithium batteries entails the use of exorbitant amounts of energy.

Approximately 72 kilograms of carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere for every kilowatt-hour of energy in lithium batteries which are manufactured or recycled.

Purpurin, which can be cultivated as a conventional crop, serves as an excellent organic electrode and its widespread usage could solve the problem of the disposal of used batteries.

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Mineworkers Union of Zambia President Chishimba Nkole told the newswire that the talks affect the largest players in the country including Glencore International (LON: GLEN), operator of the Mopani copper mine and processing complex, Vedanta Resources (LON: VED) and its Konkola venture, Jinchuan Group’s Chibuluma mine and  China Nonferrous Metals' Luanshya operation:

"While pay demands at most operations are for increases of less than 50 percent, “we feel there is the justification in some cases, where the wages are very low,” for raises of that percentage, Nkole said by mobile phone en route to Kitwe, about 360 kilometers (224 miles) north of Lusaka, the capital.

[...]

"First Quantum Minerals Ltd. [TSX:FM], where the Zambian Industrial Relations Court in September awarded workers a 13 percent increase this year and 12 percent in 2013, Nkole said."

Pay and working conditions have become a thorny issue in Zambia particularly when it comes to the many Chinese-run mines in the country. Chinese investment in Zambia reached $2.4 billion in 2011 equal to roughly 20% of the southern African nation's GDP.

The issue is also keeping the pressure on president Michael Sata who took office on the promise of improving mining conditions and a bigger share of mining profits for Zambians following protests at Chinese-owned copper mines and a brief ban on metal exports to sort out revenue collection in Africa’s top copper producer.

Chinese-run copper mines in Zambia are routinely mistreating workers and breaking the law by imposing up to 18-hour shifts and flouting international health and safety standards, according to a Human Rights Watch November 2011 report.

Zambia produces roughly 660,000 tonnes of copper a year and is a top 10 cobalt supplier. Small quantities of gold and silver are produced, mainly as a by-product of copper mining.

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According to press reports nearly 3,000 Congolese army soldiers and police defected to the rebels in Goma on Tuesday and M23 is preparing to take their fight all the way to Kinshasa.

While M23's success in the East of the country the size of Western Europe has definitely shown up the weakness of DRC president Joseph Kabila's government, threats to the regime based 1,500 kilometres to the West lie closer to home.

"Kabila will likely be removed from office via military coup or violent transfer of power should protests in major cities escalate and last longer than one week, according to a report from Exclusive Analysis, a UK-based political risk consultancy with 1,200 analysts and sources spread across the globe.

“Over the past 24 hours, violent protests have taken place in Kisangani, Kindu, Bunia and Kinshasa. In case such protests continue for longer than a week and security forces fail to put down outbreaks of unrest in Kinshasa, the risk to President Kabila's government will increase significantly,” Head of Africa Forecasting Natznet Tesfay said.

“A key indicator for a military coup or violent transfer of power would be mutinies by Republican Guards stationed in Kinshasa and public statements by key officials condemning Kabila's loss of Goma,” she continued.

“The M23 rebel group is likely to deploy towards Bukavu. This could trigger retaliatory attacks by rival armed groups and raise collateral risks to mining operations. In the likely event of an eventual UN deployment to retake Goma, collateral risks to mining and energy operations in North Kivu and Ituri will significantly increase,” according to Tesfay.

“Over the next few weeks there will be a high risk of violent confrontations within Goma as the FARDC [the Congolese army] reportedly armed local youths before fleeing. This is likely to trigger vigilante attacks on ethnic Tutsis and Rwandans,” she continued.

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According to the West Australian, a tobacco retailer in Perth revealed the production and use of the substance was increasing rapidly to the point that several customers have requested him to bring it.

“It’s like the next generation of Kronic,” he told the newspaper. “God knows what’s in it.”

The term “venom” refers to a poisonous material, such as substances secreted by some animals, such as snakes, scorpions and bees, and transmitted to prey or an enemy chiefly by biting or stinging.

The composition and effects of the drug, with the same name, remains unknown.  Most toxins that follow under the venom category affect both the cardiovascular and nervous systems. In fact, snake venom — once the toxic effect of the toxin was overcome— has played a key role in the origins of some blood pressure drugs, such as ACE inhibitors. These are pharmaceutical drugs used primarily for the treatment of hypertension.

Drugs and alcohol abuse has been a grim matter at mine sites across Australia, particularly in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, where a 2011 study published by Mining Australia showed that nearly one in ten miners had used Kronic, a variety of synthetic cannabis.

RELATED:

Alcohol ban threatens to transform Australian opal-mining outpost into ghost town >> >> 

Education and testing program to eliminate drug use in the workforce >> >>

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The exploration team, which was made of mining companies and geological departments, also discovered 220,000 tonnes of copper and 60,000 tonnes of cobalt.

The exploration area was identified earlier this year, a 5,585-square-kilometer section within Ruoqiang that is on the southeastern edge of the Taklimakan Desert.

Officials expect the reserve to grow once more exploration is conducted.

Xinhua is rich in natural resources. It has China's largest oil and gas reserves and produces most of the country's natural gas. It also records China's greatest seasonal difference, with the hottest summers and coldest winters.

Image of Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by Pravit

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According to the current edition of the online journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science, the "Iron Man" —as it is known— is a 10-kilogram (22-pound) statue found first in Tibet, which is likely to be Vaisravana, the Buddhist King of the North. Seated, he wears a large swastika on his midsection, considered a good-luck symbol in Buddhism that was later co-opted by the Nazis in Germany.

Experts have proved the statue, which remained in a private collection in Munich until 2007, when it is made available for study, is crafted from an incredibly rare form of nickel-rich iron present in falling stars.

Evidence includes the sculpture's telltale mineral content and structure, which give revealed it as a kind of meteorite called an ataxite. "It is rich in nickel, it is rich in cobalt. Less than 0.1% of all meteorites and less than 1% of iron meteorites are ataxites … It is the rarest type of meteorite you can find," Elmar Buchner of the Planetology Institute at Stuttgart University told the BBC.

Buchner, who has been analyzing the Buddhist statue for the last five years, believes it was carved from the Chinga meteorite that landed somewhere between Mongolia and Siberia thousands of years ago.

He also thinks it has some sort of special aura: "It is extremely impressive, it was formerly almost completely gilded – there is a great mystery represented by it," he told the online journal.

Meteorites have been considered God’s messengers in several cultures since ancient times, and early knives and jewellery were often carved from fragments of space rocks. But tracing their exact origins has proved difficult for scientists, at least until now.

Image of the “Iron Man” courtesy of the Planetology Institute at Stuttgart University and Elmar Buchner.

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“The extension was requested to enable Xstrata’s independent non-executive directors to take full account of feedback from consultation with key Xstrata shareholders,” the Swiss mining company said in a statement on Friday.

Glencore, Xstrata's largest shareholder, increased its offer for the company earlier in September in a last-minute attempt to savage the deal after the miner's second-biggest investor Qatar Holding demanded improved terms in June.

The deal, announced at the beginning of February as a "merger of equals,"  has turned into something more resembling a hostile takeover, since Xstrata's board   launched a vigourous defence of the miner, the world's number one thermal coal exporter and top 5 copper producer, two weeks ago.

With revenues in excess of $200 billion Glenstrata, as it has been dubbed, would become the 4th largest miner on the planet with Xstrata's current management responsible for over 80% of the combined group's earnings, 150 mining and metallurgical assets and 20 major growth projects.

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In a statement yesterday the Toronto-based company said the nodules occur in 4,000 and 6,000 meter deep waters and contain significant grades of manganese, nickel, copper and cobalt.

The nodules in the Pacific's Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ) are formed by the precipitation of metals on the seafloor, either directly from ocean waters or via decomposing microorganisms the company explains. Contractors from Germany, Korea, France and Russia are among others exploring the CCZ.

What really counts in favour of the 100%-owned Tonga Offshore Mining's project says Nautilus is the regulatory framework the International Seabed Authority has put in place since 1994 and what the company terms "reduced social disturbance" due to the nature of deep water mining versus "large land based resource developments".

The CCZ find is a rare bit of good news for Nautilus which has run into troubles at its flagship project off the Papua New Guinea coast.

The company's Solwara project – what would be the world's first seabed mine – is already half built and was slated to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2013, but a dispute with the PNG government over ownership and funding issues with its partners building a surface vessel for the operation have the put the project on ice.

Shareholders in Nautilus – after today's jump worth $224 million on the Toronto big board – have seen the value of their investments plummet by 44% since the company initiated a legal battle on June 1 over the copper-gold-silver project in the Bismarck Sea and the troubles with its German shipbuilders.

Last week the firm closed a private placement at 90c that raised $33.9 million to continue to build its Seafloor Production System.

All the major shareholders of the company supported the offer – Oman's MB Holdings increased its stake to just under 17%, Metalloinvest held at 21% while Anglo American maintained its interest at 11%.

Nautilus has not ruled out returning to the market for more money or finding JV partners to bring the project to completion.

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The Asian consortium, which injected $90 million in the first phase of financing, was still assessing whether additional funds were necessary to complete the project, added the company.

Baja has been searching for financing since April, when the company announced that the cost for Boleo in Baja California Sur had ballooned beyond expectations by $246 million.

The Vancouver-based firm has extended the deadline for the consortium to complete its diligence for the second phase of financing to Sept. 15.

The company’s shares were down almost 8% at the Toronto Exchange early afternoon, down to 12 Canadian cents

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Baja's share price gained a whopping 76.92% in Tuesday trading to close at CND$0.12, after concluding the previous trading session at CND$0.07.

According to the Baja press release a Korean consortium of investors has now become a majority owner in MMB, although formalities for transfer of equity and control are not yet complete.

Baja has been searching for financing since April when the company announced that the cost for its copper-cobalt-zinc project in Baja California Sur had ballooned beyond expectations by $246 million

Read more>>

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Friday's complication is just the latest setback for Vancouver-based Baja which has now lost 93% of its value this year closing at 5 1/2 cents. It is now worth a paltry $18.7 million on the Toronto big board.  At its height during the heady days of 2007 Baja Mining was valued at $836 million.

Only yesterday, Baja was given a lifeline securing $90 million of interim financing for the copper-cobalt-zinc project in Mexico from its Korean partners. The consortium led by Korea Resources Corporation owns 30% of Baja's Mexico subsidiary, Minera y Metalurgica del Boleo, a stake it picked up five years ago.

In order to save the project and the company RK Consulting is performing a due diligence on Boleo while BMO Capital Markets continues to "actively canvass potential strategic and financial interested parties".

Baja is also the subject of arbitration proceeding at the London Court of International Arbitration concerning a $35 million cost overrun facility provided by Louis Dreyfus Commodities Metals Suisse commenced in June.

The rot set in last year with an acrimonious boardroom battle that ended with a reconstituted board and the resignation of the CEO and founder last week.

But what really crushed the stock was an announcement little over a month ago that the company's Boleo copper-cobalt-zinc project in Mexico will now cost $1.143 billion to construct, a 21.5% increase.

Before the cost run-ups, first flagged at the end of March, Baja forecast $890 million would be needed to build the mine.

Baja has previously said that Boleo remains on track to enter production in the second half of 2013 and a special committee has now been set up to look at new ways of financing.

The bitter – and very public – boardroom dispute with 20%-shareholder Mount Kellet Capital Management has kept the tight-knit Vancouver mining community buzzing for months.

Mount Kellett, which has pumped $80 million into Baja, had not been pulling punches, accusing Baja CEO John Greenslade of “enriching family and friends” at the expense of shareholders.

For its part Baja called Mount Kellet a wolf in sheep's clothing wishing to do a takeover of the company by stealth.

At a special shareholder meeting on April 3, the Greenslade camp scored a narrow victory over Mount Kellet, although it turned out to be a Pyrrhic one.

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Baja’s shares reacted to the announcement on the Toronto Stock Exchange this morning, dropping a further 18% to 13.5 cents, making the stock one of the biggest losers of the session.

Last week, the Vancouver-based company suffered a major setback after Mount Kellett Capital Management, the company’s largest shareholder, announced it wouldn’t provide debt or equity financing for Boleo.

In late June, Baja said lenders have agreed to a 45-day standstill for the project financing, giving the company more time to arrange funds its copper-cobalt-zinc Boleo project, which is jointly owned by Baja and a Korean consortium.

Also last month Louis Dreyfus, one of Baja's main shareholders, sued the company because of over expenditures at the Mexican project.

Dreyfus is seeking an independent investigation to the spending at the Boleo project and has also demanded for the removal of "officers and directors that share responsibility for Baja's alleged failure to make timely disclosure of cost overruns."

Baja has said it "intends to defend this action vigorously."

Louis Dreyfus holds roughly 10% of Baja Mining and has sought arbitration through the London court system.

Slippery slope

Baja has lost 80% of its value in the last three months due mainly to the acrimonious boardroom battle which ended with a reconstituted board and the resignation of the CEO and founder in mid-May.

But what has really crushed the miner’s market value was an announcement a little over two months ago that the company's Boleo project will now cost $1.143 billion to construct, a 21.5% increase.

Before the cost run-ups, first flagged at the end of March, Baja forecast $890 million would be needed to build the mine.

Baja has previously said that Boleo remains on track to enter production in the second half of 2013 and a special committee has now been set up to look at new ways of financing.

The bitter – and very public – boardroom dispute with 20%-shareholder Mount Kellett has kept the tight-knit Vancouver mining community buzzing for months.

Mount Kellett, which has pumped $80 million into Baja, has not been pulling punches, accusing Baja CEO John Greenslade of “enriching family and friends” at the expense of shareholders.

For its part, Baja called Mount Kellett a wolf in sheep's clothing wishing to stealthily takeover the company.

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The vote, scheduled for July 12, has now been postponed to October, said Xstrata in a statement issued on Thursday.

"Xstrata sought permission from the court to adjourn the meeting due to the proposed changes to the retention award element," said the miner in the statement.

"As a consequence of these proposed changes [Xstrata has] to convene a new extraordinary general meeting."

The announcement came only a day after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approved Glencore's $26 billion takeover of Xstrata.

The CFMEU, an Australian union representing construction, forestry, mining and energy industries, immediately voiced its concern over the deal  attacking the ACCC for approving the merger.

The union, said VP Wayne McAndrew in an e-mailed statement, holds “grave fears” over the proposed merger, given the track record of both companies.

“Xstrata and Glencore are already too powerful in global resources, especially given their poor track record. Further concentrating power in the hands of those known for their propensity to exploit workers and bully governments will only lead to further abuses,” said McAndrew.

The mining giants are spending a combined $200 million on advisers and legal counsel to push the deal through and a collapse would be a blow to a long list of bankers, including: Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank.

Apart from shareholders blocking the deal, the European Union is stepping up scrutiny of the mooted merger after steelmakers and other European players "raised fears that the deal could create too powerful a player" in the market for zinc, nickel and coal.

Xstrata said it expects formal notification of the transaction from the European Commission to take place in mid to late August.

With revenues in excess of $200 billion Glenstrata, as it has been dubbed, would become the 4th largest miner on the planet with Xstrata's current management responsible for over 80% of the combined group's earnings, 150 mining and metallurgical assets and 20 major growth projects.

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After a 47-day review, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) concluded the proposed acquisition was unlikely to give the merged group too much market power on Australian and global markets.

"The ACCC did not consider that there was a likelihood of anti-competitive effects arising from the vertical integration of Xstrata's mining and production activities with Glencore's extensive third-party trading activities," the organization said in a statement published on its website.

The two companies are spending a combined $200 million on advisers and legal counsel to push the deal through and a collapse would be a blow to a long list of bankers, including: Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank.

Apart from shareholders blocking the deal, the European Union is stepping up scrutiny of the mooted merger after steelmakers and other European players "raised fears that the deal could create too powerful a player" in the market for zinc, nickel and coal.

Xstrata said it expects formal notification of the transaction from the European Commission to take place in mid to late August. The July 12 meeting to vote on the deal has been pushed back to October.

With revenues in excess of $200 billion Glenstrata, as it has been dubbed, would become the 4th largest miner on the planet with Xstrata's current management responsible for over 80% of the combined group's earnings, 150 mining and metallurgical assets and 20 major growth projects.

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