COPPER

Stocks bounced on Friday after France and Germany said a comprehensive euro zone debt deal was on its way, if a little late, although a weaker euro and rising bund futures suggested not everyone was convinced.

Asian shares inched up while the euro clung to overnight gains on Friday, but markets largely stayed within range, as investors awaited a weekend meeting of European leaders for signs of progress in resolving the region's debt crisis.

Zambia has suspended the issuance of new mining licences to root out potential corruption and clean up the process, the mines minister in Africa's top copper producer said on Thursday.

Tethyan Copper, a joint venture of London-listed copper miner Antofagasta Plc and Canada's Barrick Gold Corp , has filed a notice of dispute with Pakistan's Baluchistan province over its Reko Diq mine.

Miners at Freeport Indonesia will end a month-long industrial action and blockades at the world's second-biggest copper mine if the firm scraps sanctions against striking workers and considers a five-fold pay hike, the union said on Thursday.

If Taseko Mines presses ahead with a plan to build a mine on aboriginal lands in British Columbia it could harm the Canadian province's plans to expand the mining sector, a native leader said on Wednesday.

Falling copper prices and labor strife at some mines cut Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s third-quarter results by 11 percent.

The United States pushed through its toughest measures yet to curtail speculation in commodity markets in a tight vote on Tuesday, likely shifting the focus of a fierce four-year debate from the regulators to the courts.

Mining companies would be banned from investing in Eritrea's potentially booming minerals sector under a draft U.N. resolution that Security Council members are due to start negotiating on Tuesday.

Newmont Mining Corp. halted work at its giant Yanacocha gold mine on Monday after protesters blocked an access road and torched eight pieces of earth-moving equipment, prompting the company to ask Peru's government to intervene.

Scorpio Mining Corp. said Tuesday that third-quarter production of silver and other metals from its Nuestra Señora operation in Mexico rose 13 percent over the year-earlier level.

Voters in a sparsely populated district of rural Alaska have narrowly passed a ballot initiative that could block development of the controversial Pebble Mine, local officials said late Monday.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold is considering shutting down its strike-hit Grasberg mine as one of several contingency plans if security does not improve, as it struggles with one of the worst labor disruptions in Indonesia's mining industry.

Freeport-McMoRan's miners in Peru launched a hunger strike on Monday, hoping to pressure the government to resolve a labor dispute 19 days into a walkout at the Cerro Verde copper mine.

Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. halted copper and gold production on Monday at its giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia because of security fears and worker blockades, in the worst supply disruption since a strike began a month ago.

Zambia's new President Michael Sata announced plans to overhaul the constitution on Friday, the latest step in his top-to-bottom review of the way Africa's top copper producer is run.

Three people were killed on Friday at a gold and copper mine run by PT Freeport Indonesia, a unit of U.S miner Freeport McMoRan , local police in Mimika in the Indonesian province of Papua said.

Swiss investment bank UBS disclosed Friday its top 10 commodity stock picks, all of which fall into one of four categories, thermal coal, iron ore, gold and merger and acquisition opportunities.

Asian shares inched down on Friday, tracking New York and European shares lower as weak Chinese trade data raised concerns about the global economy, while the euro eased after another sovereign debt ratings downgrade.

Gold fell nearly one percent and silver dropped three percent as precious metals followed the stocks down in a generally gloomy outlook for U.S. and European economies.

Violence and the threat of worse violence has idled a major gold exploration project in a highly prospective area of the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan.