(Bloomberg) — Australian resources stocks fell, led by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto as prices of metals including copper and zinc slumped.

“We’re concerned that the risks for resources stocks are on the downside,” said Rohan Walsh, who manages the equivalent of $1.9 billion as head of equities at Invesco Asset Management Australia Ltd. in Melbourne. “The rally that led the market for so long doesn’t have the legs it once did.”

Banking stocks rose after Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corp. had their ratings increased by brokerages. Read more

The industrial wasteland that stretches for miles along the footsteps of the ancient Hibini mountains is made all the more shocking by the natural beauty that surrounds it.

Here, in the heart of the Kola peninsula, the destruction stretches across an area so great it has been described as perhaps the largest man-made desert in the world.

“There used to be big forests here,” observes Sergei Zhavoronkin, director of local green group Bellona. “We are concerned about the future.” Read more

REHABILITATION work on the mothballed refinery and mining operations of Philippine Nickel Corp. (Philnico) may begin as early as the third quarter of 2007 if talks with potential Chinese investors are concluded before year’s end.

Once clinched, the deal is worth an estimated $1 billion–double the size of the $500-million Northrail project–and will be the single-biggest investment of the People’s Republic of China in the country. Read more

Cigma Metals Corporation (Cigma) (PINK SHEETS: CGMX)(FWB: C9KA) is pleased to announce the company intends to diversify its operations to include base metals. After completing the due diligence period the Company intends to capitalize on the current high base metal prices by diversifying its current interests in Gold to include into Zinc, Nickel, Lead and Copper.

Cigma entered into a memorandum of understanding with Eureka Mining Plc to form a joint venture over the 14,000 square kilometer Dostyk mining area, in northern Kazakhstan. Read more

(Reuters) – Several people were injured when Guatemalan police clashed with rock-throwing Maya Indian protesters who burned property belonging to Canadian nickel miner Skye Resources Inc., police and local leaders said on Monday.

One officer was wounded by a rock on Sunday as the squatters occupying land owned by Skye resisted an order to leave a new area they invaded at the weekend, police spokeswoman Maria Fernandez said.

Two protesters, who want the company to cede land for subsistence farming, were hurt on Saturday in a police attempt to evict them from the site, a local Indian rights group said. Read more

Asian stocks fell Monday, led by BHP Billiton and Sumitomo Metal Mining, after the price of copper fell to a five-month low and zinc slumped.

“We’re concerned that the risks for resources stocks are on the downside,” Rohan Walsh, head of equities at Invesco Asset Management Australia in Melbourne, said. “The rally that led the market for so long doesn’t have the legs it once did.”

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group led banks in Japan lower on concern that a government report to be released Tuesday would show that economic growth failed to accelerate in the third quarter. Read more