Miner Rio Tinto, which owns a 49 percent stake in Ivanhoe Mines, welcomed a decision by the owner of the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper mine to scrap a poison pill provision, and said it was now free to raise its holding.
Hong Kong shares held firm on Wednesday supported by short-covering and gains by insurers, even as markets in Shanghai gave up some of the previous session's strong gains as investors turned cautious ahead of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.
Canada's main stock index looked set to open higher on Wednesday after reports that International Monetary Fund could boost its European lending facility by $1 trillion to help ease the euro zone debt crisis.
Mercator Minerals Ltd said it has obtained permits to start mining at its wholly owned El Pilar Project in Mexico.
European shares and the euro gradually recovered on Monday from early losses triggered by the mass downgrade of euro zone sovereign ratings last week, but they still looked vulnerable amid rising fears of a disorderly Greek debt default.
Mining and exploration company Straits Resources and its partner Argonaut have lost a court appeal to explore an area in South Australia that they believe holds huge copper and gold resources, the companies said on Monday.
Euro zone bank shares fell but stocks seen as resilient to an economic slowdown gained on Monday in the wake of Standard and Poor's mass downgrade of euro zone sovereign ratings, while the euro hovered near 17-month lows against the dollar.
Eurozone bank shares fell but stocks seen as resilient to an economic slowdown gained on Monday in the wake of Standard and Poor's mass downgrade of Eurozone sovereign ratings, while the euro hovered near 17-month lows against the dollar.
Global miner Xstrata Plc's Philippine unit said on Friday it was extremely disappointed with a government decision not to clear for now its planned $5.9 billion copper-gold Tampakan project, potentially the biggest in Southeast Asia.
Goldman Sachs said it expected upside in prices of oil, gold and copper this year, citing greater supply risks and stronger fundamentals.
Gold prices struggled to hold recent gains Friday as a successful Italian bond auction buoyed optimism about the direction of the Eurozone's economy.
South African miner Gold Fields has signed an agreement with Kyrgyz villagers that will enable it to resume drilling at a prospective copper deposit three months after an arson attack by horsemen on its geologist camp.
Gold prices, which already this week broke above a key resistance level, barreled on Thursday toward a one-month high.
The top aftermarket NYSE gainers on Wednesday were: Torch Energy Royalty, Walter Energy, Citigroup, Jaguar Mining, Freeport-McMoran Copper, Bank of America Corp, Hovnanian Enterprises, HHGregg, Liz Claiborne and Liz Claiborne.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to visit China next month as his government looks to open new markets for oil sands crude in the wake of Washington's decision to delay approval of a major pipeline from Alberta to Texas.
At least two serious potential bidders have emerged so far for the London Metal Exchange (LME) from 15 suitors who expressed interest in the world's biggest metals marketplace, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
