Chile’s Zaldivar mine asks for more time to answer questions amid Atacama water concerns

Fortune Minerals (TSE:FT), the Ontario company behind a huge anthracite coal project in BC, has signed a cooperation agreement with a native group for its NICO gold--bismuth-copper project in the Northwest Territories, Canada. "The signing of this agreement expands on our existing long-term relationship with the Tlicho Government and the Tlicho people", said Fortune Minerals President Robin Goad. "The agreement lays the foundation for discussions on fundamental topics of interest such as the possible environmental and cultural impacts of the NICO Project on Tlicho owned lands."

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Nov. 9, 2011) - Gold Royalties Corporation is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding letter agreement with Strategic Metals Ltd. (TSX-V: SMD) ("Strategic"). Under the terms of the letter agreement, Gold Royalties Corporation will acquire Strategic's net smelter royalty interests (the "Royalty Interests") in the Kink 3 mineral claim and the Northern Dancer tungsten-molybdenum property for $13.8 million, less any royalties earned on the Royalty Interests up to the closing date for the sale. "Having recently announced our expansion into Yukon with the acquisition of a royalty interest on the highly prospective Blende silver-zinc-lead deposit, Gold Royalties Corporation is very pleased to have reached this agreement with Strategic to add further high-quality Yukon mining royalties to our company. Combined with our existing royalty interests in Canada, we remain committed to the execution of our acquisition-focused business model and to our continued growth as an emerging royalty holder on mineral ore bodies in Canada," said Ryan Kalt, President of Gold Royalties Corporation.

Taseko Mines' hopes were kept alive when the Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent, ordered the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to set up a panel to examine the company's New Prosperity copper-gold mine. "The Minister of the Environment instructed the Agency to design a process that will thoroughly assess whether the proposal addresses the environmental effects identified in the environmental assessment of the original Prosperity project. He also directed the Agency to ensure that information obtained during the previous environmental assessment is used to the extent possible in order to ensure a timely decision," said the agency in a statement. The review, which will include public hearings, are supposed to be wrapped up in a year.

Business Spectator reports Rio Tinto's Tom Albanese and BHP Billiton's Marius Kloppers find themselves caught up in a tough US political battle as partners on the Resolution Copper venture in Arizona. At the end of last month the Republican-controlled Congress approved a bill to make possible a land exchange clearing the way for what would be North America’s largest copper mine. But the world's two biggest mining groups now await approval in the Senate, a much tougher task. For BHP a go-ahead on Resolution Copper would mean it will at last have something to show for a disastrous acquisition it made more than 15 years ago.

The Guardian reports the U.S.-based Carter Center has launched a website to shine a light on the corrupt mining industry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

Peru can remain competitive with neighbouring Chile despite a recent decision to hike mining taxes. Peru, the world's third largest copper producer, is able to offset its higher tax on mining companies (which is 3.8 percentage points higher than Chile's) recently imposed by new President Ollanta Humala, because it has cheaper labour and electricity costs, reports Bloomberg:

Stock in Formation Metals (TSE:FCO) plunged 13% today after a European bank decided to terminate its loan agreement with the Vancouver-based company. The $79.5 million loan from BNP Paribas was to go towards construction of Formation's Idaho cobalt mine. Formation said the credit facility was terminated without the closing of the subject financing.

The State of Alaska has filed a constitutional challenge in Alaska Superior Court to strike down a municipal ordinance recently enacted by ballot measure in Southwest Alaska's Lake & Peninsula Borough. By a margin of just 34 votes, local voters supported a ballot measure put forward by anti-Pebble activists that would restrict future development that affects more than one square mile of land within the 31,000 square mile borough.

Chinese-run copper mines in Zambia are routinely mistreating workers and breaking the law by imposing up to 18-hour shifts and flouting international health and safety standards, according to a report from Human Rights Watch. The 122-page report draws on interviews with miners from the country's four Chinese copper operations and the 48 other mines operated my multinational companies. The Chinese companies are subsidiaries of China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation (CNMC), a state-run firm.