Residents of a city in southern China are rushing to buy bottled water after excessive levels of the carcinogen cadmium were found in a river source of drinking water, state media said Thursday the latest health scare to hit the country. Pollution of waterways by toxic run-offs from factories and farms is a pressing issue in China, prompting the authorities to call for policy tightening to cut pollution by heavy metals, but the problem shows no sign of leaving. Read more

A federal judge on Thursday said BP Plc Transocean Ltd. to compensate for a number of compensatory claims over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who oversees Multistate disputes over the spill, agreed with the Transocean drilling Swiss master was not responsible for compensation claims by third parties for oil spill below the ocean surface. He ruled, however, that the London-based BP does not indemnify Transocean punitive damages or civil penalties imposed by the U.S. government under the federal Clean Water Act. Read more

While the United States, Australia, South Africa and China are among the top gold-producing countries in the world, there is a scrum in the third world countries to increase their prospecting and offering the chance for a better and cleaner company. Peru, Indonesia and Ghana are among many countries that the mining lake. Accelerated production rates, following the spike in gold prices since 2008 economic downturn, the incentive. At the same time there are concerns about the environment and human rights implications raised.
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South Africa’s gold mining index climbed the most in four months as the price of the metal rose after the U.S. Federal Reserve extended a promise to keep interest rates near zero. The FTSE / JSE Africa Gold Mining Index (JGOLD) climbed 4.8 percent, the biggest gain since Sept. 19, from 1:09 p.m. in Johannesburg. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG), Africa’s biggest producer of the metal, rose 4.5 percent. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI), the world’s fourth largest gold producer, rose 4.4 percent. Gold rose as much as 0.5 percent to $ 1,718.57, the highest since December 9, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the Fed is considering additional asset purchases to stimulate growth after promising to keep interest rates low until at least 2014. Read more

BP Plc can not collect from Transocean Ltd. part of the $ 40 billion clean-up costs and economic damage caused by the 2010 oil well blowout and spill the Gulf of Mexico, a judge ruled, sending shares higher Transocean. BP to Transocean for pollution-related economic damage claims arising from its drilling contract to indemnify, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans ruled yesterday. London-based BP sued Transocean in April, a part of his damages and costs to repair the leak. Read more