The world’s 50 most valuable mining companies

Canadian rare earths explorer Pele Mountain Resources closed up 18% on Monday after the Toronto company announced an updated PEA on its Eco Ridge project.

The Toronto Star profiles Peel River in the Yukon, a growing sources of contention between miners and environrmentalists

MINING.com counts more than 90 billionaires involved in minerals, metals and mining on the planet with a combined wealth of well over $300 billion.

Mining contributed $50 billion to the country’s GDP in 2011, he said, and provides “well paying” jobs for more than 300,000 Canadians.

BHP's four largest projects – Olympic Dam, the Outer Harbour iron ore infrastructure project in Australia, expansion of its US shale gas operations and Jansen potash in Saskatchewan, Canada – require $120 billion in capex costs, but will only start to contribute to the bottom line by 2023.

Times Dispatch reports that Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is not taking a position on whether a 30-year-old ban on uranium mining should be lifted.

Uranium company Paladin Energy Ltd (TSX:PDN)(ASX:PDN) announced it named Alan Rule as its new Chief Financial Officer effective July 23, 2012. He would be replacing the current CFO, Garry Korte, who is joining Roy Hill Holdings, owned by billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

The costs don't add up for nuclear power, according to a study by the Vermont Law School, and the high price tag of making nuclear energy safe is imperilling the industry.

Long term uranium market fundamentals remain strong, despite worries over what Japan will do with 53 of its 54 nuclear reactors, which are currently rest shut down for maintenance or safety reviews, says Australian research group, Resource Capital Research (RCR).