World’s biggest floating solar power plant starts operating atop former coal mine

Reuters reports that world number three supplier India's iron ore exports and prices could be hit by quality issues raised by China on $2.2bn worth of shipments. India sends almost all its exports to China, trade worth around $1.5bn per month. During the first four months of 2011, over a third of India's exports to the Chinese province of Jiangsu were substandard, China's General Administration of Quality, Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a notice posted on its website.

Amid growing interest in bullion as a hedge against the dollar and inflation and a renewed rally in gold and precious metals prices, Christian Science Monitor, documents gold’s journey around the globe in a fascinating and extensive photo-essay.

Gross exports of polished diamonds from India continue to grow, rising 5.5% year over year. In April the country exported nearly 5 million carats worth $2.05 billion, according to the latest figures published by the GJEPC.

Many investors are calling into question billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros’s commitment to gold. With higher highs no longer a regular occurrence in the gold market, some see Soros’s dumping of gold ETFs as a clear sign that the party is over. But as trading in the first Asian precious metal futures contract opens on Wednesday, bearish investors may want to take a cue from the millions — maybe billions — of investors in India, China, Vietnam and across the region who are pouring money into gold and are willing to pay a premium.

Los Angeles Times published a photo essay on May 14 looking at child labour in the coal mines located in India: "Times South Asia bureau chief Mark Magnier and photojournalist Daniel Berehulak report on the mining situation in the Jaintia Hills district of India, located in the northeastern state of Meghalaya. Perhaps as many as thousands of underage workers as young as 8, lured by the wages, leave school to work in coal mines under perilous conditions."

Overall construction of the Oyu Tolgoi Project was 15.1% complete by the end of Q1'11, slightly ahead of the planned 14.8%. Total capital invested in the project by the end of Q1'11 was $1.8 billion. The Oyu Tolgoi Project initially is being developed as an open-pit operation, with the first phase of mining planned to start at the near-surface Southern Oyu deposits, which include Southwest Oyu and Central Oyu. A copper concentrator plant, related facilities and necessary infrastructure that will support an initial throughput of 100,000 tonnes of ore per day are being constructed to process ore scheduled to be mined from the Southern Oyu open pit. Commercial production of copper-gold-silver concentrate is projected to begin in the first half of 2013.

In a move meant to curtail fake diamond exports and the round tripping of funds and diamonds indulged in by some nefarious diamond merchants, India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, has reduced the term of letters of credit for the import of diamonds into the country. An immediate consequence of reducing the term, to 90 days instead of one year, will ensure that diamond importers cannot earn interest arbitrage on their packages.

Mongolia’s SouthGobi Resources said that its fuel supplier claimed a force majeur after Russia cut supplies to the country to a mere 10,000 tonnes. The company said its flagship coal mine, Ovoot Tolgoi, has enough fuel to last 45 days under normal operations or around three months if it scaled back production. SouthGobi also stated that it has coal in inventory and customer trucks can be fuelled in China, a short distance away from the mine.

Indian state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) has raised the domestic prices of its aluminium products by 4,000 rupees ($90) per tonne, except for rolled products, a senior company official said on Tuesday. The prices have been increased in line with the London Metal Exchange (LME) rates, the official who did not wish to be identified due to company policy, told Reuters.