Peabody Energy Corp. has pledged nearly one million tons of coal a year and up to $10 million in development funds to an Illinois plant planners say would become the nation’s first to commercially turn coal into liquid fuels for tomorrow’s big-rig trucks, buses, barges or jets.
St. Louis-based Peabody, as part of the deal announced [...]

Rio de Janeiro-based CVRD (NYSE: RIO) is in talks with international steelmakers to bring new steel projects to Brazil, CFO Fábio Barbosa told analysts and investors in a presentation Thursday.
Barbosa was speaking in São Paulo during an event promoted by finance industry trade group Apimec.
CVRD has a 10% minority stake in the under-construction CSA steel [...]

Metallica Minerals Limited said on Friday that top Chinese tin producer Yunnan Tin Group’s unit in Australia had agreed to buy a 5 percent stake in it for A$5.9 million ($4.0 million).
The unit would buy 5.38 million shares in the Australian firm, which invests in Nornico and Lucky Break nickel projects in the country.
The company [...]

United Company RUSAL, the world`s largest aluminium producer, is considering mining the raw material bauxite in Mozambique, Interfax news agency reported, citing a Russian government official.
Officials from RUSAL held discussions in December about developing bauxite reserves in the African country, Interfax quoted Mikhail Kamyshin, official representative of Russia`s foreign ministry, as saying.
He was speaking ahead [...]