COPPER

Iamgold Corp., a Canadian gold producer, said Tuesday it paid $10 million for a 13.2 percent stake in Tolima Gold Corp., which holds interests in Colombia's most prolific gold belts.

About 42 percent of employers plan to set higher annual performance targets for executives in 2012 compared to this year, according to a survey conducted by Pearl Meyer & Partners of 190 organizations including publicly traded and privately held companies, along with non-profits.

Earnings season is about a month away, but the early signals are not comforting. Companies lowering estimates outpace those raising them by the greatest ratio in 10 years -- and some sectors, such as materials, have seen a dramatic fall in expectations for the fourth quarter.

The Toronto Stock Exchange has given notice to Gold Reserve Inc. that it does not meet the bourse's listing requirements since Venezuela expropriated the company's main asset, Gold Reserve said Friday.

Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp said the U.S. federal mine regulator put its Jerritt Canyon mill on safety watch list for alleged violations.

Auction house Christie's sold $367 million worth of Asian and Chinese art, paintings, jewellery and watches in its just concluded Asia sales series in Hong Kong.

The family of Huguette Clark, the copper heiress who amassed a $400 million, has launched a legal battle over her estate and fortune after a two wills were discovered.

Toronto's main stock index was set to open higher on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session after China unexpectedly cut its bank reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points, and ahead of Canadian growth data.

India gold futures rose by more than half a percent on Wednesday to hit their highest level in two weeks on firm global leads fanned by a weaker rupee at home.

European telecoms lobbying group ECTA urged EU regulators on Monday to cut fees charged by dominant operators for access to copper wire networks, arguing such firms enjoyed unfair subsidies.

European telecoms lobbying group ECTA urged EU regulators on Monday to cut fees charged by dominant operators for access to copper wire networks, arguing such firms enjoyed unfair subsidies.

Stocks surged about three percent on Monday on hopes that fresh proposals may emerge out of Europe to help solve the region's debt crisis.

Australia's Newcrest Mining was assessing damage from a rock slip that was blocking access to part of its Cadia gold and copper mine, one of the largest of its kind in Australia.

Chilean miner Antofagasta posted a 28 percent rise in nine-month profit, lifted by improved production and an increase in gold sales that helped offset bad weather and an accountancy hit after copper prices fell steeply in the third quarter.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa says his government is within days of signing contracts with mining companies set to develop large copper and gold projects in the mineral-rich Andean nation.

The Austrian banking system is on fire: getting singed not only by the heat of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, but also by the immolation of an Eastern European asset bubble the banks had been underwriting for a decade. Stumbling, contradictory guidance from the management of several banks has not helped either. And a stalling Austrian economy is only likely to make things worse

Chinese group Minmetals Resources has extended its $1.3 billion takeover offer for Africa-focused Anvil Mining to December 9, to allow more time to resolve a dispute over contracts with Congo which threatens to scupper the whole deal.

Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold and its Indonesian union are discussing a possible pay deal to end a three-month strike that has crippled output from the world's second biggest copper mine, which would double pay for some skilled workers.

World stocks hit their lowest in six weeks on Wednesday and crude prices fell after and manufacturing in regional heavyweight Germany contracted for a second straight month in November, and at a faster rate, as export demand slumped.

J.P. Morgan will soon announce it has bought a 4.7 percent stake in the London Metal Exchange from defunct U.S. brokerage MF Global, two people familiar with the situation said, making it the exchange's largest shareholder.

Mining company Magma Metals Ltd said it plans to spin off its West Australian gold projects into a new exploration company, to focus on its platinum-palladium-copper-nickel project in Ontario.