China’s Zijin plans selling $1.2B worth of shares to fund Nevsun takeover

The recent Chilean mine disaster has sparked new fresh debate in China regarding work safety and rescue work in the domestic mining industry. China has made huge steps to improve mine safety in recent years, reducing the number of deaths to approximately 2,600 in 2009 from 7,000 in 2003 even though coal output has more than doubled.

NineMSN reports that shares in Meridian Minerals (ASX:MII)jumped after a Chinese state-owned entity, revealed plans to takeover: Shares in Meridian Minerals jumped after the junior explorer's largest shareholder, a Chinese state-owned entity, revealed plans for a $67.5 million takeover offer. Meridian shares were up one cent, or 8.7 per cent, at 12.5 cents at 1343 AEST after an earlier high of 13 cents.

Copper hit its highest since mid-April on Tuesday on better-than-expected U.S. housing data, a weaker dollar and hopes Chinese demand will remain firm, helping offset investor anxiety over U.S. and European sovereign debt concerns.

Need proof that stakeholder relations can be fraught? See this recently uploaded YouTube video of Siveru Soma, an Indian MP, who was chased away and beaten up by a mob of women who were protesting a Chinese clay mining project in Visakhapatnam district.

Copper hit its highest since mid-April on Tuesday as a weaker dollar and hopes Chinese demand will remain firm helped offset investor anxiety over US and European sovereign debt concerns. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) traded at $9,800.25 a tonne by 0825 GMT compared with Monday's close of $9,694 a tonne.

China's Sichuan Hanlong Group made a bid to buy out the shares it doesn't already own in West African iron ore exploration company Sundance Resources, valuing the private conglomerate at A$1.4 billion ($1.5 billion). Last week, Hanlong, which is seeking to expand its reach in global resources, launched a A$144 million takeover bid for Bannerman Resources, which is looking for uranium in Namibia.

Rescue work in a flooded coal mine in Guizhou Province has been terminated, 14 days after a flood trapped 23 workers underground. The rescue work in Niupeng Mine, located in Pingtang County, was halted at 4 p.m. Saturday. The miners were very unlikely to be alive, according to an assessment by rescue experts. Twenty one workers remain missing while two bodies have been retrieved from the mine. The area where the miners are believed to be has been completely submerged. While 406,000-cubic meters of water had been pumped out during the past 14 days, flood water was still pouring into the pit.

The Silver demand in China is on up. Imports of silver to the China have reached new highs, and analysts maintain that demand for this year will only continue to grow. The growth comes not only from industrial and jewelry demand, but also from the increased investments in silver as a hedge against market losses and inflation.

Joy Global, one of the world's leading heavy-equipment mining companies, will take over China-Based International Mining Machinery Holdings Ltd. According to a statement released on Thursday, Joy Global will purchase 534.8 million shares of IMM for HKD 8.50 a share representing 41% of the company. Total cost will be USD$538 million. Subject to regulations, Joy Global will purchase the remaining shares of IMM at a later date.