Labrador Iron Mines Holdings Limited (TSX:LIM) is pleased to announce that the first shipment of LIM iron ore sailed today bound for China.

After crashing through the $80/barrel level on Friday, the price of US crude oil fell further on Monday to trade just above $76/barrel, the lowest in a year, sending the shares of the biggest oil sands players into a tailspin. Suncor tumbled 5.5% and the oil sands bellwether has now lost a staggering $70 billion in market value since its pre-recession high set in May 2008. Canadian Natural Resources gave up 5.6%, Imperial Oil shed 6.5% while Cenovus lost 4.1%. Canadian heavy oil – exported only to the US due to a paucity of pipelines – sells for $10.50 less than US crude and trades at roughly $35 below the international benchmark, meaning oil sands developers have to deal with an effective oil price of $65 and change and now sell some of the cheapest fuel on the planet.

MarketWatch takes an in-depth look at the $72 billion global polished diamond trade and finds a distinct lack of pricing clarity and a deeply flawed system that have somehow endured for decades.

IDEX reports on Wednesday Sotheby's is auctioning a 9.27-carats fancy vivid pink emerald-cut diamond at a sale that will likely attract collectors that have not seen such stones auctioned for a while. Collectors and dealers have paid top prices for exceptional diamonds at auctions in Hong Kong, repeatedly setting record prices, but offerings like the rare VVS1 clarity pink diamond carrying a pre-sale estimate price of $12.8-$19.2 million, have been scarce recently. If the gem sales at the upper end of the range it could set a new per carat record of $2 million-plus.

Vale SA will likely hand over 35% of its Simandou iron ore project to Guinea. The Wall Street Journal (sub required) is reporting that Vale, one of the top three producers of iron ore, is working on an accord whereby the company concedes 35% of the Simandou project to the Guinean government. The accord falls in line with the country' new mining laws, which allow the government to increase its stake in mining projects from 15% to 35%.

A statement put out by Ivanhoe Mines and partner Rio Tinto on Monday saying it has formally informed the Mongolian government it won't renegotiate the terms of the Oyu Tolgoi investment did not have the desired effect and the share was beaten down 6.6% on Monday. The counter’s losses began after rumours – now confirmed – surfaced that the Mongolian government is rethinking a 2009 deal that gave Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto a 66% stake in Oyu Tolgoi and that it now wants half of the $6 billion gold and copper project.

The value of stock in Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, the world’s largest miner of the soil nutrient, are down more than 13% or $6 billion since Tuesday after losing 2.8% in afternoon trade on Monday on the back of plummeting corn prices in the US. The price per bushel of the largest US crop has declined 25% since June and farmers are now hard-pressed to slash input costs which means cutting back on fertilizer. Globally there is a similar trend and in India, the world's largest importer of potash, sales were down more than 50% over the monsoon planting season.

The price of coking coal is likely to remain buoyant despite a recent price cut by Wesfarmers and softening Chinese demand for steelmaking inputs. Wesfarmers, an Australian conglomerate based in Perth, over the weekend cut the price it receives for its Curragh coal to US$280 a tonne over the next three months. The move prompted analysts to consider whether coal, like several commodities like copper, nickel, and zinc, is the next domino to fall as slowing global growth pinches commmodities.

An illegal work stoppage at La Arena Gold Oxide Mine has been resolved and mining operations have resumed, Rio Alto Mining (CVE:RIO) said on its website today.