Cecilia Jamasmie , Senior Editor

Researchers in the University of York' s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence and the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) are giving a whole new meaning to the concept of “green mining,” as they said Friday they will develop a technique called "phyto-mining," which uses plants to extract platinum group metals (PGM) discarded during mine processing.

Diversified miner Xstrata (LON:XTA) and commodities trader Glencore International (LON:GLEN) have now until October 1 to decided on the $36 billion lauded merger.

Shares in diamond exploration and development company DiamondCorp PLC (LON:DCP) went up over 24% in early trade Friday after the group struck a financing deal that will meet more than three-quarters of the costs of its Lace mine project in South Africa.

Rio Tinto’s flagship $5.2 billion copper-gold Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia near the Chinese border – one of the biggest mining projects in the world – is practically ready to go, except for one “detail”: it needs power supply to kick-start operations.

The Archduke Joseph Diamond, a 76-carat gem considered one of the most renowned worldwide, may be sold for more than $15 million in Geneva on Nov. 13, the world's largest auction house Christie’s said on Friday.

Canada's Barrick Gold has temporarily suspended operations at its Pierina mine in Northern Peru after violence between a nearby community and police left one person dead and four seriously injured.

BHP Billiton has added three new names to its growing list of shelved coal mine projects as it defers its Red Hill and Saraji East coal projects.

Freeport currently pays 3.5% for mining copper in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, and 1% for gold.

Takeovers and mergers in the global mining sector has slowed radically this year as a result of lower commodity prices, but Canadian companies continue leading worldwide mergers and acquisitions.

North American potash selling consortium, Canpotex, will be shipping larger amounts of the fertilizer to Indonesia after the five-year potash supply deal signed Tuesday between the offshore selling agency and Southeast Asian buyers.