Cash Minerals Ltd. announced that its Yukon Uranium Project has acquired approximately 2,000 additional mineral claims covering about 40,000 hectares in the Wernecke Mountain area of east-central Yukon Territory. The staking program was instituted in late 2005, when the company held approximately 350 claims covering about 7,000 hectares. Additional claims have been staked on the [...]

Uranium prices may gain as Japan, South Korea, India and the United Kingdom build more nuclear reactors to meet rising energy demand, Merrill Lynch & Co. said.
Uranium for immediate delivery may average $43 a pound this year, Vicky Binns and Daniel Hynes said in a July 12 report. This is 8 percent higher than Merrill’s [...]

Spot Australian thermal coal prices firmed over the past week, rising in sync with record oil prices after escalating conflict in the Middle East.
“I’d say the rise reflects higher crude prices,” said Andrew Harrington, resources analyst at ANZ in Sydney. “Higher oil makes coal a more attractive alternative for electricity producers, fuelling demand and therefore [...]

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co, the world’s fourth-biggest methanol maker, is investing about 200 billion yen ($1.76 billion) over three years expanding overseas production to achieve a 30% increase in pretax profit.
Mitsubishi Gas targets pretax profit of as much as 65 billion yen as early as the year ending March 31, 2010, from 50 billion yen [...]

PetroChina Co. increased oil and natural gas production 6.8 percent in the first half as energy demand soared in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Crude and gas output rose to the equivalent of 533.2 million barrels of oil, the Beijing-based company said today. Oil production gained 1.8 percent from a year earlier, while gas output jumped [...]

Niger has awarded licences to a group of companies from China to explore for uranium as the Asian economic powerhouse steps up its hunt for strategic sources of energy and raw materials in Africa.
China, one of the world’s fastest growing economies, is looking to meet booming energy demand by rapidly expanding its nuclear energy programme. [...]

An underground gas explosion in a Chinese coal mine killed at least 50 miners and left seven missing, state television reported Monday.
The explosion Saturday in the Linjiazhuang Coal Mine in Jinzhong, a city in Shanxi province, was under investigation, the report said. The official Xinhua News Agency said a preliminary investigation blamed the blast on [...]

Upstart explorer Australian Mining Investments Ltd. more than halved its resource estimate for a copper discovery in Queensland state on Monday, slicing 50 percent off the value of its shares.
The company, which this week changes its name to CuDeco Ltd., had seen its stock rocket to a high of A$10, from 29 cents, in less [...]

Workers in Linden laid off by Omai Bauxite Mining Inc (OBMI) for two months because of the competition from cheap bauxite produced by China are pessimistic about the chances of the company restarting operations in September and consequently of rehiring them.
News that the company was seeking investors to buy into operations was not a cause [...]

The Chinese government has just issued a circular on regulating the coal-chemical industry, urging local governments to tighten control of new projects.
The government will not approve coal Liquefaction projects with an annual production capacity under three million tons, methanol or dimethyl ether projects under one million tons and coal-to-alkene projects under 600,000 tons, said a [...]