mineral exploration project – commodity prices – mining stock- trade and market

Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration recently purchased more than 2.4 million common shares of Riverside Resources Inc. — a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company — for $1.45 million.

Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration recently purchased more than 2.4 million common shares of Riverside Resources Inc. — a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company — for $1.45 million.

In June Cliffs and Riverside signed an agreement to explore and acquire iron oxide-copper-gold projects in Mexico.

“This investment by Cliffs into Riverside solidifies the partnership between...

A six-month halt in U.S. deep-water drilling would cost 23,247 jobs, according to an estimate by Michael Bromwich, head of the agency that regulates offshore oil exploration.

Bromwich’s July 10 memo to Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar shows regulators weighed the economic affect of suspending drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet before Salazar issued a second moratorium on July 12. The memo was submitted to U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans as part of a voluminous administrative record supporting the agency’s actions.

“There is no question that the imposition...

As BP readied its latest fallback plan to stop oil gushing from one of its wells in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration and the company warned that the crude could continue flowing until August, compounding threats to coastal wetlands, fisheries and beaches.

White House energy and climate adviser Carol Browner declared Sunday that the oil spill was “probably the biggest environmental disaster we’ve ever faced in this country” and said that “we are prepared for the worst.” On the CBS show “Face the Nation,” she said that the “American...

Two recent reports suggest that the alternative fuel of choice over the next 20 to 30 years won’t be nuclear, coal, oil, wind or solar – but rather,
natural gas.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted the fact that, even before the recent discovery of very large so-called “unconventional” reserves not easily recovered, natural gas had a number of clear advantages compared to other sources of energy.

First, compared to other carbon-based fuels such as oil, natural gas produces half the CO2, has none of the waste disposal problems associated with nuclear,...

The Australian sharemarket closed three per cent higher for the week, as middling-to-positive leads from European stocks and Wall Street culminated in a solid weekly close, after China rejected reports it was considering reviewing its European bond holdings.

For the week, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 3.15 per cent to 4,457.5 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index jumped 7.58 per cent to 4,479 points.

AMP Capital Investors chief economist Shane Oliver said it looked like a correction in equities and commodities prices was under way, and a decent rally was beginning.

Crude oil and gasoline prices are inching up again. Optimism about the economy, new tensions in oil-producing Nigeria and reports that China intends to build up its strategic reserves lifted crude prices to around $82 on Monday, about a $10 increase in the last month.

Prices at the pump are rising, too, with the average national price for a gallon of gasoline jumping 5 cents in the last week, to just above $2.75.

Marathon Oil Corporation today announced a $5.1 billion capital, investment and exploration budget for 2010, a 17 percent decrease from 2009 capital spending.

“Marathon’s 2010 capital program will focus on Upstream activity, with an emphasis on the development of sanctioned projects, potentially significant exploration wells and advancing our growing resource plays,” said Clarence P. Cazalot, Jr., Marathon president and CEO.

Mining company BHP Billiton iron ore production reported from several locations of their iron ore mines to...