Violence, corruption and unrealistic demands from foreign investors have benefited natural gas development across Sub-Saharan Africa by driving investment from Nigeria into many other competing countries. A study by Zeus Development Corp. finds that 29 of 47 countries that comprise the subcontinent are now improving gas-development policies and advancing projects.
“From Senegal around the Cape of [...]

Premier Alan Carpenter has come under renewed pressure to lift the ban on uranium mining after new research estimated an expansion of the uranium industry would help cut up to 15 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases and deliver a $27 billion boost to the economy.
Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson released a report yesterday which estimated [...]

Brazil aims to build seven new oil refineries and quintuple its natural gas output over the next two decades, the head of the government’s energy studies agency said on Tuesday.
“It’s the first time Brazil has done an integrated planning study for energy resources,” said Mauricio Tolmasquim, the head of the agency, known by its acronym [...]

Copper rose in London on speculation that a slumping dollar will encourage buyers holding other currencies to purchase the metal. Lead and nickel advanced.
The U.S. currency dropped to an all-time low against the euro after a government report showed that the U.S. economy grew last quarter at the slowest pace in four years. A change [...]

Thousands of workers at a huge U.S.-owned copper and gold mine are on a sit-down strike demanding a greater role in management, which they say is discriminating against tribespeople in remote Papua province.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., based in Phoenix, has been plagued for years by allegations of human-rights abuses and environmental damage at its [...]

Coal is poised to rebound from a two-year slump as China buys more than it exports for the first time in history.
Power use in China, the world’s biggest coal producer, is rising 13 percent annually, and utilities are building plants at a record pace. The nation gets 78 percent of its electricity from coal, spurring [...]

THE Australian gas industry needs taxation concessions and national regulatory consistency if it is to meet its “substantial” potential, an Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association report to be released today says.
One result of the report is that APPEA is seeking a 175-per-cent investment allowance so explorers in frontier areas would be able to claim [...]

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s refusal to sign Exclusive Prospecting Orders (EPOs) will hamper growth and further reduce foreign currency inflows into the country, analysts and mining experts said.
They said Mugabe’s decision would damage the mining sector, one of the few sectors still accounting for the few receipts trickling into the foreign currency market and accounting for [...]

Gold has surpassed cotton as main export, transparency in disclosing mining revenues missing gold exports have more than tripled in the last decade yet its citizens have so far seen little benefit from mining revenues, reported international relief and development organization Oxfam America today in its latest report, Hidden Treasure? In search of Mali’s gold-mining [...]

Copper gained for a second day in London on speculation that a labor dispute at a mine in Chile, the world’s largest producer of the metal, may disrupt supply.
A union at the Cerro Colorado copper mine voted yesterday to strike as part of wage negotiations with BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company. Supply [...]