Cecilia Jamasmie , Senior Editor

The new China Beijing Metals Exchange (CBMX), the country’s first physical iron ore trading platform is set to debut Tuesday, with the major producers of the commodity BHP Billiton (NYSE:RIO), Vale (NYSE:VALE), Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) as members.

Shares of Chilean miner Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) were down over 4% at 11:20 ET after the company announced yesterday that its first-quarter copper production fell almost 13% amid rising development and maintenance costs.

Argentina's Congress voted 208-32 to move forward with a bill giving President Cristina Kirchner the green light to seize a 51% stake in the country's largest oil and gas producer, YPF SA from Spain's Repsol YPF SA.

Once tinted by drug cartels and civil war, Colombia is now one of Latin America’s fastest growing markets and, according to the World Bank, the most secure country in the region in which to do business. Since yesterday, the country also has a new national mining agency, which is already looking for foreign investments to expand existing production and explore areas where rich deposits of key resources are suspected.

Brazilian mining giant Vale (NYSE:VALE) announced the country's Superior Court of Justice ruled in favour of the federal tax authority in its appeal against an injunction granted in March suspending payment of taxes on overseas profits by the company.

Contract workers blocked some roads to Chile's Escondida copper mine, the world's largest, on Thursday in a bonus dispute, although production operations weren't halted

Indonesia has decided to have its mining cake and eat it too, as the country, one of the world’s largest exporters of copper and coal, will start imposing a 20% tax on mining exports beginning next week.

Gold producer Randgold Resources (LON:RRS, NASDAQ:GOLD) posted today strong results for its first quarter output and profits despite the political turmoil in Mali, from where it extract two-thirds of its gold output.

An Australian site has developed an online wealth calculator that allows you to see how a mining magnate can make the equivalent to your annual salary in a matter of minutes.

Colombia’s leading coal producers are increasing investments dramatically to improve and expand their ports, in what is considered a key move for rising coal production in the country to 120 million tons within by 2014.