Gold Fields acquires 16% stake in Chakana Copper

Peruvians in the northern region of Cajamarca are not giving up easily in their fight over Newmont Mining's proposed Conga copper-gold mine.

Talks between the Ecuadorian government and Kinross Gold have stalled over the country's largest mine, Fruta del Norte.

Arizona congressman Paul Gosar (R-Flagstaff), during a hearing today on the Department of the Interior's 2013 budget, took the opportunity to question Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on his department's opposition to a bill clearing the way for the proposed Resolution Copper mine near Superior, Arizona.

A week after announcing substantial profits and the expansion of their vast Western Australia iron ore operations, BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) and Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) said yesterday that they would spend $US 4.5 billion on the Escondida copper mine in Chile.

Brazillian miner Vale SA said Tuesday it is gradually resuming mining at its underground nickel operations in Sudbury, Canada.

After over two months of futile negotiations behind closed doors between Chile's state-owned copper giant Codelco and global miner Anglo American, a resolution of the dispute that have seen both parties sunk in a legal battle seems far off, said Codelco's CEO Diego Hernandez to a local daily.

Fortescue Metals was up 5% Monday on rumours that Canadian coal and copper/zinc miner Teck Resources is making a play for the third-largest iron ore producer in Australia.

The Philippines is taking a cue from South Africa, Australia and Zambia, all recent examples of government attempts to extract more revenues from their mining sectors and add more controls.

Gordon G. Chang, gloomy prognosticator on China, digs into trade numbers on copper and believes the Chinese are buying copper to gussy up their trade deficit numbers, rather than having a real need for the metal.