Frik Els , Editor

Rural communities in Queensland Australia are more than a little unhappy about state politicians and government agencies allowing mining firms like BHP to set up self-contained separate mining towns cut off from local communities or simply letting miners fly in and out without ever becoming part of local life.

A presentation made to the Zimbabwean parliament on Thursday details the secrecy, corruption and human rights abuses that accompany mining activities in the Marange alluvial diamond fields. Hundreds were killed and thousands of local miners were driven off claims when the army seized control of the area in 2008 and most observers believe an international ban on these gems are being widely flouted. The report alleges that in contrast to the official $200 million, as much as $2.8 billion – equal to all other tax revenues – found its way into a parallel government via the army, police, prisons and intelligence agencies which all have 'permits' to mine there.

Mining Weekly reports De Beers is going all out to create 5,000 non-mining jobs in Namaqualand over the next five years as it exits a region on the South African west coast where it has mined for the past 90 years. Projects include a wind farm, abalone culturing for export to China where it is a highly prized delicacy, a prison warden training facility and a joint venture with sister company Anglogold for undersea gold mining. The company has recently come under fire over plans to sell the properties including two towns to a much smaller outfit that will have to take responsibility for rehabilitation over a 970 square km area pockmarked by open pits.

After a more than 3% jump in the first half hour following stellar financial results, investors quickly tempered their optimism about the world's largest potash miner and by midday Potash Corp was back in the red. You don't have to look too hard to find reasons for the scepticism.

Vancouver-based Goldcorp on Wednesday reported record third-quarter net income on an adjusted, non-GAAP basis of $459 million or $0.57 per share from $244 million or $0.33 per share in the third quarter last year. Revenues for the quarter grew 48% to $1.31 billion from $885 million in 2010 on gold sales of 571,500 ounces. Average realized gold price surged 39% over 2010 to $1,719 per ounce. Cash costs at Goldcorp now amount to $258 per ounce on a by-product basis and $551 per ounce on a co-product basis.

The US state department's anonymous leak to the media on Tuesday lowering expectations about a decision on Keystone this year should not come as a surprise to anyone following Barack Obama's poll numbers or the increasing bitterness on the left about his perceived closeness to industry.

On top of a 3.3% decline in US crude oil prices on Wednesday comes news from Reuters that a US State Department official said the year-end target to approve the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline could well be missed. It would be the second time a decision has been pushed out. A surge in inventories at the Cushing hub in the Midwest, the pricing point for US crude was behind the fall and a further delay to Keystone, designed to carry Canadian crude to Texas refineries and relieve the Cushing glut, will hit oil sands producers particularly hard. Canada's heavy oil already sells at almost a $30 discount to the international price.

Shares in micro-cap Hudson River Minerals Ltd. (Public, CVE:HRM) jumped 18.2% on the Toronto venture market on Wednesday after the company announced drill results from its Zarn Lake gold property in northwest Ontario. The company found anomalous gold in all 16 holes and most intersections were within 50m of the surface.

Canada's number one coal producer and world-leading nickel miner, Sherritt jumped 10.2% on Wednesday after reporting a doubling of quarterly net earnings and good progress at its massive Ambatovy project in Madagascar. Sherritt will start production at Ambatovy in the first quarter of next year. The company has already spent more than 90% of the planned $5.5 billion to build what will be the world's biggest nickel mine with the capacity to produce 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,600 of cobalt a year. Sherritt and its Asian partners have made the largest investment in the island's history and will make nickel the country's number one export for the next 27 years.

Gold climbed to a month high on Tuesday, briefly breaching the psychologically important $1,700 level, but the rally quickly ran out of steam. Gold for December delivery settled up $48, or just under 3%, at $1,700.40 an ounce in New York but in after hours trade the precious metal pulled back to change hands at $1,696. Earlier in the day the CEO of world no.3 gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, Mark Cutifani told Reuters he sees sees no bubble in gold and prices could easily go higher. Gold reached a record high of $1,920 in September and at $1,700 is still up about a quarter from a year ago.