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Talks to merge the world’s largest gold mining companies, Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp., broke down Sunday amid minor disagreements that leave open the possibility that a deal could be revived, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The companies had agreed to an all-stock merger and planned to announce the deal next week, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Barrick was to offer Newmont shareholders a premium of 13 percent over Newmont’s average trading price over the last 20 days, one of the people said.

Read more at:  http://business.financialpost.com/2014/04/20/plans-to-merge-barrick-gold-corp-and-newmont-mining-corp-break-down-reports-say/

(Reuters) – Indonesian demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is expected to double to 56 cargoes in 2015 compared to this year, said a senior official with state electricity utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) .

Indonesia’s domestic gas fields are struggling to keep up with surging power demand in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, forcing it to look overseas for supplies.

Thirty-eight of the 56 LNG cargoes needed next year will go to PLN’s gas-fired power stations in Jakarta and other West Java cities, PLN oil and gas division chief Suryadi Mardjoeki told Reuters by phone.

Read more at: http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/21/indonesia-power-idINL3N0ND1UI20140421

While economists and geologists worry the world’s supply of rare earth metals will soon be outpaced by demand, a team of German geochemists has found a way to easily extract them from the vast deposits lying under the sea.

In a study, published last week in the Journal Applied Geochemistry, the scientists suggest rare earth metals could be mined from the solid nodes of iron and manganese found strewn across much of the deep ocean floor.

Read more at: http://www.mining.com/scientists-find-way-to-extract-vast-amounts-of-rare-earths-from-seafloor-73254/

Vale, the second largest producer of nickel, is expected to be one of the beneficiaries from a recovery in nickel prices. The company is expected to increase production at Onca Puma, Brazil, having suspended the project for one year due to technical glitches. The plant was running at about 62% of its nominal capacity of 25,000 tons a year by December.

Stronger nickel prices will also help BHP Billiton as the company looks to offload non-core assets. BHP plans to focus on copper, iron ore, coal, and petroleum as part of its simplification strategy. Earlier this month, the company had said that it is continuing to study the next phase of simplification, which includes structural options. With the outlook for nickel prices strong, it will be much easier for BHP to sell or spin off its nickel assets.

Read more at: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/19/stronger-nickel-prices-to-benefit-vale-bhp-billito.aspx

General Electric, the U.S. manufacturing and finance group, still expects healthy growth in China this year, in spite of mounting concerns about the country’s economy, its chief financial officer has said.

Jeff Bornstein said GE expected its markets in China to grow faster than the economy as a whole, as it served areas that were priorities for the government, including healthcare and oil and gas production.

“We still expect China to be a good source of growth for us for the rest of the year,” he told the Financial Times.

Read more at:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/101595286

Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd (MSC) is finally calling it quits on its more than a decade old tin mining and smelting operations in Indonesia.

The world’s second largest refined tin producer, which owned 75% stake in PT Koba Tin, Indonesia’s second biggest tin miner, is currently looking at divesting its tin mining and smelting assets in the republic.

Read more at:  http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/04/19/Getting-out-of-Indonesia-Malaysia-Smelting-Corp-is-exiting-the-country-after-more-than-10-years/

For two decades, China has been trying to reduce its reliance on iron ore supplied by top producers Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton without much success because the price of the ore it produces is higher.

Read more at: http://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/1487584/chinas-plan-iron-ore-giants-hits-snag

BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) — China will appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against its ruling that China’s regulation of its rare earth exports had violated WTO rules, an official said on Thursday.

The appeal will be lodged Thursday, Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang said.

Read more at: http://english.cntv.cn/2014/04/17/ARTI1397724337919380.shtml

Russian major mining group MMC Norilsk Nickel, the world number one producer of nickel and palladium and a major producer of copper and platinum (with cobalt, gold, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium, selenium, silver, sulphur and tellurium as byproducts), has reported that sales (in terms of physical volumes) by its Botswana operation remained stable last year. Norilsk’s presence in Botswana takes the form of an 85% share in Tati Nickel and 15% held by the Botswana government.

Read more at: http://www.miningweekly.com/article/norilsk-optimistic-about-market-trends-and-its-botswana-mine-shows-stable-sales-2014-04-18