Companies: LND �� RVD ��

Tin, copper and nickel have been star performers in a revival of base metals, which were feared to have run their course several months ago. Tin hit a record $1,000 (�500) a tonne on concerns of oversupply from Indonesia, a major producing country.

Copper also strengthened on events in Indonesia, where disgruntled workers at the major Grasberg mine threatened to disrupt production. Nickel benefited from low inventory levels and aluminium perked up too.

There have been reminders of the 1980s Australian resources boom with the late Kerry Packer’s son, James, paying �2.1 million through his Consolidated Press Group for a key stake in AIM-listed Landore Resources, which hopes to produce nickel in Ontario.

Meanwhile, Alan Bond, the English-born Aussie ex-tycoon who was once outsmarted by Kerry Packer in one of his biggest deals and later went to prison, is preparing a London launch for his RAB-backed Lesotho Diamonds venture, in which AIM counter River Diamonds has bought a 34.8 per cent holding.