Australian contractor Leighton Holdings Limited revises down its full year 2010/11 financials with expected $427 million of loss versus its previous guidance for an after tax profit of $480 million. The revision is primarily due to write-backs of expected profit on the Airport Link project in Queensland and the Victorian Desalination Project, and an impairment of Leighton’s investment in the Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG).

The United States is poised to export the most coal since 1992 this year, filling a gap created when flooding interrupted Australian supplies and buoying shipments for railroads such as Union Pacific and CSX. Union Pacific, the nation’s largest railroad, may double coal exports this year to more than 4 million tonnes, said Doug Glass, the company’s vice president and general manager for energy. CSX predicts shipments may rise 33 percent to a record in 2011 after first-quarter volumes climbed 45 percent.

Polar bears were the theme of the diamond jewelry items presented to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Canada's Northwest Territories. The newlyweds received a set of diamond pave cufflinks modeled after the polar bear logo of the NWT Government, and a diamond pave brooch also in the shape of the North's iconic bear.

More details of the carbon tax are trickling out as the Australian Government prepares to take the next step towards imposing its carbon price.

Plans for a huge gold mine near Kershaw have been delayed for at least a year because of the mine's potential effect on creeks and wetlands that run through the site in Lancaster County. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct an environmental impact statement before it decides on a wetlands permit for Romarco Minerals Inc., which wants to create the largest gold mine east of the Mississippi River. Image of the Haile gold mine site, by Romarco Minerals.

Zambian President Rupiah Banda opened the country's largest coal mine Friday, after Singapore's Nava Bharat took over majority shares and invested $750 million (525 million euros) at the once defunct state entity. Nava Bharat, a Singapore subsidiary of India's Nava Bharat Ventures, has a 65 percent stake in Maamba Collieries, with Zambia's government owning 25 percent through its Zambia Copper Mines Investment Holdings.

Debt-saddled Greece has a new revenue source in the form of two gold mines that have been approved by the country's environment minister, George Papaconstantinou, FT reported on Friday. The newspaper said that European Goldfields has received final approval to build two large gold mines in northern Greece, named Olympias and Skouries, near Thessaloniki. The AIM-listed miner plans to spend $500 million to build the mines and a total of 1.3 billion euros throughout the life of the mines.

Shares in Anfield Nickel's jumped more than 4% to within striking distance of a year-high on Friday after the company released the results of its economic assessment of the Mayaniquel project in Guatemala. Anfield said the project may generate approximately 700 permanent jobs and 800 direct jobs during the three year construction period and potentially $1.8 billion in taxes and government royalties payable to the Guatemalan government.

The price oil sands producers can charge fell to $96/barrel on Friday while global crude prices remained firmly around the $118/barrel level as Canadian supplies swamp the US. Canada exports two million barrels of crude to the US per day of which 1.5m come from oil sands meaning Alberta's bitumen mines are losing out on a possible $33m in revenues each and every day. Building new pipelines would remove the glut but it’s almost three years since TransCanada first applied to extend its Keystone pipeline and Enbridge’s project to pipe crude to the west coast for export to Asia will languish for another 18 months in a review process. All this while US need for crude continues to seep away and Chinese demand grows at double digit rates.