Burkina Faso Prime Minister Luc Adolphe Tiao called on foreign mining companies active in the country to do more to help alleviate poverty hitting 42 percent of the 16 million population. "We want to see the mining companies include in their investment

Conglomorate Wesfarmers said Wednesday it will sell Premier Coal to Yancoal for Aus$296.8 million (US$293 million) in the Chinese parent firm's first major buy in Australia in two years.

Last year's death of 29 miners in one of the worst mining disasters in US history "could have been prevented," a panel concluded Thursday, blasting the owner for lax safety at the Upper Big Branch mine. The report into the West Virginia blast, the deadliest US coal accident since 1970, also found that Massey Energy Co. miners lacked adequate training in safety and called for tougher enforcement powers for US federal and state mine inspectors.