One of the world's oldest, rarest, and most coveted diamonds is going up for auction at Sotheby's.

In 1992 in the junior mining sector, nobody was paying attention to diamonds. Then Lac de Gras was discovered. Within four years, there were 200 diamond exploration companies. Twenty years later, there are six junior companies still in the game. The REE junior space will be similar, but in a shorter timeframe.

Planetary Resources took the wrapper off the new company that plans to mine asteroids, and the company has half a road map on how to get precious metals out of the sky.

A senior trader in the red metal says “the miners are all lying” about the chances of their projects actually coming on stream.

Vivian Krause, a Vancouver blogger who has been digging into the finances of green groups, takes a hard look at the finances of Suzuki Foundation and draws linkages to foundations in the U.S. who may have an interest in tying up Canada's oil supply rather than let the country diversify exports in the east.

"Global economic markets have shifted to a period of significant uncertainty and we continue to see both a sustained upward pressure on costs and long timeframes for regulatory approvals."

When planning an expansion at the largest open pit mine in Quebec, thinking big is important.

CST Mining is selling its 70% stake in the Mina Justa copper project in Peru for US$505 million.

11 countries bought just under 58 tonnes of gold in March. That compares to combined purchases of 439.7 tonnes by the world's central banks last year. That already was an almost fifty year high.