One of India's first investors in the local resources industry saw its shares slide yesterday after the company announced it had hit potentially dangerous ground conditions at its Mt Gordon copper mine in north Queensland.

Aditya Birla, Australia's fourth largest copper miner, was forced to stop mining in an area of the underground operation because of stability problems.

The news, which could cut the group's annual production by about 10 per cent, sent its shares 10¢ lower to $2.56.

Mt Gordon is the group's second string Australian operation, with its main producer being the Nifty mine in Western Australia.

But Mt Gordon was forecast to produce about 35,000 tonnes of copper this year out of the group's total predicted production of 88,000.

Group chief executive Sanjay Loyalka said mining had stopped in one of seven areas at Mt Gordon and that the area would be monitored and steps would be taken to make sure continued mining would be safe.

Unfortunately for Aditya Birla, the unstable area was expected to produce most of the mine's copper in the near future.

Mr Loyalka said the monitoring would take up to six to 10 weeks and cost between 7000 and 8000 tonnes of copper production for the current financial year.

Analysts look for copper demand from China, the world's largest consumer, to remain strong in the months ahead, particularly due to ideas that the country may have to rebuild drawn-down inventories.

Some say this should support prices going forward, although others suggest this expectation may already be factored into historically high prices.

"We could see some stronger demand materialize from China," said Dave Rinehimer, director of futures research with Citigroup Global Markets.

Bill O'Neill, one of the principals with LOGIC Advisors, pointed out China's second-quarter gross-domestic-product growth of 11.3% suggests its economy remains robust, which in turn means copper demand.

"The way they're building and doing major projects, it's hard not to say that demand is going to go up," he said.

However, he cautioned, the key question is "what price discounts (strong) demand over the next couple of years?" In other words, he added, "is $3.60 or $4 copper over-discounting the demand levels?"

UBS base-metals strategist Robin Bhar, in a research report earlier this week, noted that Chinese net copper imports for the first seven months of 2006 were down 28% from a year ago.

Such statistics haven't been seen as bearish, however, with several analysts saying the country has simply worked down its inventories, thus meaning it will likely have to start re-stocking at some point.

"It's a little bit tricky (assessing Chinese demand) because China's imports for copper actually fell through July of this year," said Patricia Mohr, vice president with Scotiabank. "For the first seven months, it was down quite substantially."

But that doesn't mean there has been any dramatic decline in underlying demand, she continued.

"My guess is that China's inventories on hand of copper have actually been worked down and they will have to get back into the market place in the next six months and buy more copper."

Rinehimer offered a similar view.

"Their stocks have been drawn down and you could see some stronger import demand materialize," he said. "I think copper is more likely to go back to the $4 level than the $3 level."

Bhar said the apparent de-stocking in China appears to have occurred against a background of lower imports, higher domestic production and State Reserve Bureau, or SRB, sales. Traders and industry officials in China estimated late last week that the SRB had sold 100,000 metric tons of copper.

"We believe that inventories of metal have now reached very low levels and consumers will need to re-stock over coming months, which will help to underpin copper prices," said Bhar.

The SRB sales depressed prices in China relative to the London Metal Exchange, he said. Thus, the Shanghai Futures Exchange discount meant imports into China were "not viable."

However, Bhar concluded, a narrowing of the SFE discount "could be a first indication that SRB selling could be nearing an end allowing imports of refined metal to resume."

Russia's federal natural resources agency said Thursday that it will hold an auction in Moscow in the fourth quarter for the exploration and development license of the Lekyntalbeiskoe copper and molybdenum ore deposit in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district in the Yamal Peninsula.

According to preliminary estimates, the deposit is believed to have reserves of 1 million metric tons of copper and 15,000 tons of molybdenum.

The license is expected to be for 25 years, including five years of exploration and 20 years of extraction.

Russia's Urals Mining and Metallurgical Company said Thursday it has completed upgrading its Svyatogor copper and zinc ore concentrator at the cost of about $33 million.

The upgrade increases the concentrator's capacity 1.5 times to 2.5 million metric tons of ore a year.

The concentrator has been upgraded in order to enable it to process ore from the Severny copper and zinc ore mine at the Tarnyerskoe deposit, commissioned by UGMK Wednesday.

Copper Resources said Tuesday that Assay results of cores from the recently completed geotechnical drilling programme at the Hinoba-an Copper Project confirm gold-bearing mineralisation. These results indicate the potential for a significant gold system to the northeast of the main porphyry copper mineralisation at Hinoba-an.

Geotechnical drilling for the copper project at the northeast wall of the proposed Don Jose ("DJ") open pit, intersected several intrusive dacites (silica-rich igneous rocks) and associated hydrothermal breccias (rocks broken by hot fluids).

These rocks represent the feeder zone for dacitic and rhyolitic (more silica-rich) volcanic rocks that represent the last phase of volcanism in the belt (circa 13 million years).

These late-stage volcanic events are often associated with metal-rich fluids, which represent the last phase of volatile release from the underlying magmas. It is these fluids that often cause the brecciation, or else percolate through a pre-existing breccia and deposit metals, including base metals, gold and silver.

Mark Gordon, CRC's Chief Geologist, interpreted that these units are sub-vertical, and trend NW-SE, that is, parallel to the trend of the porphyry copper deposit. The mineralisation is adjacent to the intersection of a NW-trending structural zone and a SW-trending structural zone.

The SW structure extends to the Bulawan Gold Project, which is located at the intersection of this and another NW trending zone 5km to the southwest of DJ. The Bulawan project, which is also hosted in a similar age dacitic complex, produced some 300,000 ounces of gold before being put onto care and maintenance in 2002, due to low gold prices.

The geotechnical drilling programme included 17 holes for 1976.5 metres, of which seven intersected rocks associated with the dacitic intrusive complex and three returned significant gold assays.

As the geotechnical drill holes were drilled at a spacing of 200 metres, as required for the bankable feasibility study (BFS) for the copper project, and have not covered the full extent of the area considered prospective for gold mineralization, there is significant potential for the area to host a major gold system.

CRC will embark on a 50x50 metre drilling programme to ascertain the extent of the mineralization and contained gold. The latter grid will bring the new gold drilling up to a BFS standard as well. CRC will use the drill rig still at site to complete this programme.

Aurum Mining PLC said the resource estimate for its Andash gold and copper project in the Kyrgyz Republic has exceeded its earlier expectations following the completion of an in-fill drilling programme.

The AIM-listed company said the latest estimate gives a Measured and Indicated resource of 17.1 mln tonnes, leaving only a further 200,000 tonnes in the Inferred category.

The resource is now estimated at having 624,000 ounces of gold and 72,000 tonnes of copper, the company said.

Chief executive Mark Jones said: 'This latest JORC resource estimate marks a major milestone for the company as the Andash resource is now almost entirely in Measured and Indicated categories which will make the Western feasibility study, currently under preparation, additionally persuasive.'

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Many professional chefs use copper pots and pans for their cooking. If copper pans are good enough for the pros, then they should be good enough for your kitchen... right? As with any type of cookware, copper pans have their pros and cons.

What do you think would look nicer on your shelf... a set of dull, stainless steel pans, or a set of bright, shiny copper pans? The answer is pretty obvious, the copper looks nicer, which is one of the advantages. They brighten up the kitchen, and make a better showpiece than other pans. But copper has other advantages than just good looks.

Copper is an excellenet conductor of heat. A good quality copper pan conducts the heat to the food quickly and evenly. This is copper's greatest advantage over other types of cookware. Many chefs use copper to cook foods that need to be cooked at precisely controlled temperatures. Despite these advantages, there are also some disadvantages to copper.

Copper is a reactive metal, meaning that it readily oxidizes when it comes in contact with acids. If unlined copper pans are used in cooking acidic foods, such as tomatoes, then severe illness can result. This is why many copper pots and pans are lined with a non-reactive surface, such as stainless steel. This prevents the copper from dissolving into the food, and causing illness. Copper pans, lined with stainless steel are considered some of the finest cookware available. Unlined copper is just fine for foods that are not acidic. Many chefs use copper bowls for whipping egg whites. You should never store foods in copper pans though, whether or not the food contains acids. Transfer the food to an appropriate storage container.

When choosing copper cookware, look for thick, heavy gauge pans. If you find some good heavy copper pans at a garage sale, or otherwise buy them used, look at the stainless steel coating. If the coating is scratched and copper is showing through, then you will need to get the pans re-lined before you can use them.

Copper like silver tarnishes. But it is easy to make a tarnished pan bright and shiny again. Simply make a paste of lemon juice and salt, and rub it onto the pot with a cloth, then rinse the mixture off, and the tarnish will disappear. Never use abrasive materials in cleaning copper. Copper is a soft metal, and easily scratched by abrasives. Abrasive cleaners will also scratch the stainless steel lining, which will make the pans unsafe to use unless re-lined.

If cared for correctly, then copper pans will serve you well over the years. They conduct the heat well, and they look good while doing it. Just take good care of the pans, and make sure that the lining remains intact.