Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word mining. 7 news.

MINING giant Rio Tinto is set to spend $US300 million ($351.06 million) to develop the Eagle nickel mine in Michigan in the United States.

AFP - The retail and mining sectors were heavy casualties as the leading share index closed in negative territory, dealers said Monday.

CONNEMARA MINING, the Irish zinc mining company, has commenced drilling at its Lough Sheelin mining site 25km west of the Navan zinc deposit mined by Tara.

NICKEL hopeful Allegiance Mining has rebuffed a $697 million takeover bid from zinc miner Zinifex, labelling the offer as opportunistic.

World No. 3 zinc producer Zinifex offered up to A$775m in cash for nickel miner Allegiance Mining, the latest move in a hectic round of consolidation among Australian miners

SHARES in nickel hopeful Allegiance Mining have surged almost 40 per cent after a $697 million takeover bid from zinc miner Zinifex.

While consolidation among the large-cap mining groups has grabbed all the recent headlines, the junior miners on Aim have motored ahead relatively unnoticed.