Cecilia Jamasmie , Editor-in-Chief

Australian gold producer, BCD Resources has announced that it will close its Beaconsfield underground gold mine next year as today's gold price it is not viable to mine below the current depth of 1210 metres, said CEO Peter Thompson. The announcement comes nearly a year after the mine retrenched close to 100 workers in an attempt to make it profitable. Currently, over 150 people work in the mine, 103 of them being full-time employees, as well as 16 casuals and 32 contractors.

Australia's total investment in mining industry soared by a third in the past six months to a record $231.8 billion, according to the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics latest Mining Industry Major Projects - October 2011 report. The study, issued today, includes a record 102 projects at an advanced stage of development, including 40 minerals projects, 37 energy projects, 21 infrastructure projects and four mineral processing projects.

Australian landowner Ian Moore has taken to court his battle against coal company NuCoal, which wants access to drill three boreholes on his property north of Sydney for its proposed Doyle’s Creek mine. Moore says he opposed the operations because of the potential damage it could cause to underground water supplies and because he is legally blind and relies on a visual memory of his property to farm, which the drilling operations and bore holes could hinder. The beef farmer has been backed up by locals, who fear their property could be next.

Dozens of south-eastern Kentucky residents have filed a lawsuit contending improper surface mining practices disrupted natural drainage and made area flooding worse in June.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is drafting new standards for the gold industry which will raise the entry barriers and it will force companies with daily gold processing capacity of less than 50 tons to shut down. Citing unidentified sources who attended a national gold mining conference, the industry ministry is drawing up a blueprint to better regulate gold miners, such as shutting mines with a daily gold processing capacity of below 100 tonnes and halting approvals for small ore processing companies. China, the world's largest bullion producer, currently has no limits on gold production and production is determined by the gold producers.

Chinese energy giant China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) took over oil sands operator Opti Canada Inc. (TSXV:OPC) today in a deal valued at Cd$2.1 billion. This acquisition gives China's top offshore oil company its second stake in a Canadian oil sands property. With the close, reports Reuters, CNOOC gains a 35 percent stake in the troubled Long Lake oil sands project, which operates well below its 72,000 barrels per day capacity as operator Nexen Inc (NXY.TO) works to overcome problems with the C$6.1 billion project's reservoir.

The global mining industry is facing intensifying social, economic and political challenges, which means companies must incorporate more complex scenarios into their strategic planning, says a new study from Deloitte. The report, titled Tracking the Trends 2012, warns of a “perfect storm” already hitting the mining industry.

Global mining giant Anglo American announced the delivery of the first copper produced from its $2.8bn expansion of its fought-over Chilean mine Los Bronces, amid signs that its battle with its state-backed rival Codelco could avoid the courts.

Brazil has temporarily banned Chevron from drilling in the country after it caused an oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, raising doubts about the company’s role in one of the industry’s biggest investment programmes. Late on Wednesday, Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) accused the U.S. company of negligence late on Wednesday, announcing it would suspend all of Chevron’s drilling until it clarified the reasons for a spill that released almost 3,000 barrels of oil into the sea earlier this month. Analysts believe that the Brazilian government is keen to make an example of Chevron as a warning to other foreign companies looking to take a share of Brazil’s pre-salt reserves, which are estimated to contain as much as 50bn barrels of oil.

Fears over the direction of Vale, the world’s biggest miner of iron ore by volume, renewed this morning as the company’s CEO Murilo Ferreira announced late on Monday that he will submit to the Board of Directors a proposal for a new structure of the Executive Board. Investors have been particularly cautious of management changes at the miner since Brazil’s government helped push out Roger Agnelli, Vale’s former chief executive, at the end of his mandate in May. The company said that the restructuring aims to establish an operational model with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each business unit.