Canadian platinum mining firm, Platinum Group Metals, has announced the latest update in its mineral resource estimate for the Western Bushveld Joint Venture. The company has reported 7.3 million ounces of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold in the measured and indicated category, representing an increase of 18 per cent compared to the firm’s previous estimate. Platinum Group Metals also reported a further 1.2 million ounces have been discovered in the inferred category.
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The first shipment of Iraqi crude oil arrived in Jordan Friday after a four-year hiatus following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, an energy ministry spokesman said.

Energy Ministry spokesman Maher al-Shawabkeh said eight trucks loaded with Iraqi crude oil arrived at the Iraqi-Jordanian border.

“It’s the first batch of an expected 166 tankers, which Iraq is sending to Jordan,” he said.

The oil is part of an agreement signed between Jordan and Iraq during a visit by Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit to Baghdad in August 2006.
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Stock index futures slipped on Friday as oil prices hovered near record highs, offsetting optimism from a government report that pointed to tame inflation.

The rise in crude may add to concerns about the impact of higher energy prices on consumers’ spending and costs faced by businesses, but shares of energy companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N) could benefit.

Futures trimmed losses after data on consumer spending and inflation. A government report showed a measure of consumer prices closely watched by the Federal Reserve — core personal consumption expenditures — in August posted the smallest year-over-year rise in about 3-1/2 years. Read more » »

Oil prices rose above $83 a barrel Friday as the weak dollar drove investors to the market and concerns remained about a decline in crude inventories at a key Oklahoma terminal.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 36 cents to $83.24 a barrel in electronic trading by mid-afternoon in Europe. It rose as high as $83.38 during early trading in Asia.

On Thursday, the Nymex crude contract had jumped $2.58 to settle at $82.88 a barrel during the floor session.
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Mirabela Nickel reported that the Southern Deeps drilling has produced the best intersections recorded at Santa Rita to date. Drill hole MBS 427 returned a composite intersection of 156m @ 0.88% Ni, including a continuous interval of 109m @ 0.90% Ni. The company advised that further deep drilling is planned for the southern end of the Southern zone. An initial program of 12 drill holes for 5,000m will commence shortly. With regards to South-East Extension drilling, drill results from the southern extent of Santa Rita indicated that the mineralised zone bends sharply to the east rather than terminates as previously thought. An initial program of 50 drill holes for 10,000m to target the South-East extension area (and a line of coincident Cu-Ni soil anomalies in the area) is already underway. To date the Company has drilled 19 holes for 4,000m.

European mining and technology stocks rose after a report showed consumer spending in the U.S. increased more than forecast last month.

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-biggest mining company, and Infineon Technologies AG, Europe’s second-largest semiconductor maker, paced the advance. Tate & Lyle Plc led food and beverage makers lower after predicting a loss for its sugar- trading division and saying higher corn prices will dent profit.
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Industry and mine attracted nearly a quarter of Iran’s total investment, considering a 14 percent rise in the sectors’ investment in the previous decade, said the acting industries and mines minister here on Friday.

Referring to the key economic role of industry and mine, Ali-Akbar Mehrabian added that the sectors had a 77.5 percent share in non-oil exports in last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2007).

The official called for formation of a working group to focus on the potentials of the two sectors.

Mehrabian said the development of single industries is the gate to industrial promotion.

PT Hanson Energy, an affiliate of Hanson International, operating in coal mining, is eyeing a number of coal mining concessions in East Kalimantan.

Hanson Energy President Harun Setiawan Boedi said his company is carrying out final studies of a 2,000 hectare concession with a deposit of 20 million tons of high grade coal in that province.

The company plans to buy the concession to meet demand from export market, Harun said, adding next year the company plans to export up to 500,000 tons of the high quality coal to Japan, Taiwan, and Canada.

The export target will be increase in the following years, he said.

A US official on Thursday criticised an oil deal between Texas-based Hunt Oil Company and Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), saying it had “needlessly elevated tensions” in Iraq.

Hunt had been advised by the US State Department not to enter the deal before the Iraqi parliament passed a national oil bill that will share out the country’s lucrative oil revenues but it went ahead anyway, a US embassy official in Baghdad told reporters.

The contract signed earlier this month was declared “illegal” by Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, sparking a war of words with the KRG, which told him to stop meddling in its affairs and said he should be sacked.
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Oil and other petroleum futures surged Thursday amid supply concerns sparked by a decline in crude inventories at a key Oklahoma terminal and the confrontation between the West and Iran.

This is basically fear of a fundamental supply disruption,” said Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co.

The U.S. is trying to raise support for new U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programs. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the nuclear issue is “closed,” and has vowed to defy any U.N. sanctions.
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