How China is locking up critical resources in the US’s own backyard

Meanwhile, palladium remained in a gross deficit last year, with this being likely to increase in 2012.

Brazilian investment in mining is about to shatter a five-year record.

Major copper producer Grupo Mexico reported a 35% jump in first-quarter profit, helped in part by higher mine production numbers.

Draft legislation, a copy of which was seen by the Financial Times on Wednesday, gave "the clearest sign yet that Mongolia is uncomfortable with the large foreign investments that have so far been a mainstay of economic growth."

A lower copper price and a strike at its Kansanshi mine in Zambia has bit into the bottom line at Africa-focused base metals producer First Quantum Minerals.

Brazilian Gold Corporation jumped 13.5% on Wednesday on three times usual trading volumes, after announcing positive metallurgical test work at its São Jorge deposit in northern Brazil.

Even after today's heavy losses it is still showing gains for the year of 86%.

BHP Billiton addressed shareholder concerns about its ambitious investment plans in four mega-projects on Wednesday saying it will match capital expenditures closely with cash flows and stagger the project pipeline.

There is no such thing as an average miner.  There is no such thing as an average salary.  Yet we can get some idea of how well mining people are paid by looking at the average salaries for 2011 on US metal mines recently published CostMine.