After Easter break, though trading started smoothly, the mining sector is struggling due to decline in metal prices.

One of the officials at Hochschild disclosed that the Argentine Mining Labour Association has fathered an action due to dispute over increase in wages for contract workers at San Jose silver and gold mine in Argentina.

The other mining firms for the precious metal like Fresnillo and African Barrick are also feeling the heat of the dispute.

The work at Simandou iron ore project in the southern part of the Guinea has started again, after an agreement has been signed between Rio Tinto and the government of Guinea. Simfer, the auxiliary company of Rio has to pay $700m to the Guinean Public Treasury on proclamation of Presidential Decrees awarding concession to the Simfer for mining and the permission of the proposed Simandou joint venture between Chalco, the Chinese Almuminium Company and Rio Tinto.

The Domino Printing Sciences has also signed a joint venture for developing and deploying technologies for proprietary of food safety and traceability for the US egg industry, with New Market Impressions, the food safety specialist.

Schoolnet, providing tailored instructions for US school kids, has been taken over by Pearson group for $230m (£140m).

Chaarat Gold has declared its first estimates of resources for its Chontash project, which has been acquired by the company in July 2010. The estimates revealed that 3.6 million tonnes of ore at 0.16% molybdenum for 5,627 tonnes of Mo, for 7,190t of Cu it is 0.2% copper and rare earth elements for 1,627t and 0.112% for 13,000 oz of gold.