Anvil Mining is scheduled to commence production of copper from its new Kinsevere Stage II Solvent Extraction Electrowinning (SX-EW) plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the current quarter.

Outotec has signed a contract with Chilean Codelco, the leading copper producer in the world, for the design and delivery of concentrator technology to Codelco's new Mina Ministro Hales mine in northern Chile.

SPECTRO Analytical Instruments, a leading supplier of analytical instruments for optical emission and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, has introduced the SPECTROBLUE, an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) that sets new benchmarks among compact, mid-range spectrometers for simplified operation, low maintenance and affordability.

Banro Corporation reports that construction of its wholly-owned Twangiza Phase 1 gold project in South Kivu Province, DRC, is proceeding on schedule with gold production expected to begin in Q4 2011.

Rio Tinto has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) to take the next step in global commercialisation of the HIsmelt technology to be used in a fully integrated steel making facility.

Campbell Brothers Limited announces that its testing services business, the ALS Group, has entered into an unconditional agreement to acquire all the issued share capital in Stewart Holdings Group Limited (Stewart Group), a global testing services provider to the minerals industry, with completion anticipated to take place on the 21st July 2011.

There is something about ionic liquids that attracts the interest of researchers seeking greater efficiency in electrical and chemical systems, from improved batteries to industrial catalysts and solvents.

Donald Leroux joined Algosys inc. in November 2010, taking responsibility for Algosys’ global business development. Having commenced his career as plant metallurgist at the Brunswick concentrator and scientist at the Noranda Technology Centre, Leroux has subsequently held senior leading positions with the Noranda and Falconbridge mining groups before joining COREM as Director, Technology Development and Transfer and then Genivar as Director, ­ Process Engineering. Read more

A combination of biology and chemistry is being used to extract minerals from sources that have traditionally been overlooked, including low-grade ores and mining waste. Read more

Larox Flowsys, the worldwide supplier of flow control and pumping solutions has decided to change its name to Flowrox. The visual look and feel has also been renewed. The new name and outlook will be taken into use gradually by January 1st, 2012. Read more

Shipping iron ore is easy. Knowing how much iron you have actually shipped is another matter - one that keeps both the exporters and the buyers awake at night because it is the iron content, not the raw tonnage, that determines the final price. Tricky as that might sound, it all comes back to the fact that every iron ore mine is different and most mines also have different grades of iron in the same pit. In one corner the ore might grade as high as 60 per cent iron, whereas another part of the same orebody might grade 57 per cent. This leads to that critical question: how much iron is actually being sold? Read more

This month, Vale opened its first nickel operation in Brazil. Onça Puma, in Ourilândia do Norte, southeast Pará, is one of the largest ferronickel production plants in the world. The project, which covers the municipalities of Ourilândia do Norte, Tucumã and Parauapebas, has an annual production capacity of 220,000 tons of ferronickel, containing 53,000 tons of nickel, a highly valued product in the steel industry. Read more