An illegal work stoppage at La Arena Gold Oxide Mine has been resolved and mining operations have resumed, Rio Alto Mining (CVE:RIO) said on its website today.

Three mining companies in the Philippines have been raided by over 200 heavily-armed communist rebels, Forbes.com is reporting. The rebels burned heavy equipment, disarmed guards and briefly held people, according to officials.

E-mails between the State Department and TransCanada, the company behind a $7 billion proposal to build a pipeline between Canadian oilsands and Gulf Coast refineries, demonstrate "a sometimes warm and collaborative relationship," states a report in today's New York Times. The e-mails, the second batch to be released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the environmental group Friends of the Earth, show a senior State Department official at the United States Embassy in Ottawa procuring invitations to Fourth of July parties for TransCanada officials, sharing information with the company about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s meetings and cheering on TransCanada in its quest to gain approval of the giant pipeline, which could carry 700,000 barrels a day.

Olympus Pacific Minerals TSX:OYM, ASX:OYM has formed a joint venture with Abra Mining & Industrial Corporation (AMIC) and other companies to develop the Capcapo gold project in the Philippines.

The strike at Highland Valley Copper Mine in British Columbia could soon be over, local media is reporting. Kamloops This Week reported that a late-night bargaining session between Teck Resources and United Steelworkers has resulted in a tentative collective agreement. The mine's 1100 employees voted 99.5% in favour of a strike on Wednesday.

Argentina may be salivating over an abundance of natural resource riches, but getting it out from under the ground could push local water supplies to the breaking point.

A draft law approved by the Indian cabinet today directs miners to share their profits with people displaced by mining. The Wall Street Journal reports that the law, which has been pending for over two years, would have mining companies pay a royalty to create a fund to help for those displaced by mining and related industries. Coal producers would pay a 26% tax on profits. A regulator has also been set up to monitor illegal mining and prosecute violators, in a direct response to recent scandals in the states of Karnataka and Goa respecting the illegal export of iron ore.

While the number of smokers in the United States has declined dramatically in recent years, miners have yet to kick the habit, says a federal study. Reuters reported Thursday on the report, which says that 30% of mining, hotel/motel and food services smoke. The study, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzed data from 2004 to 2010.

The Zimbabwe Guardian reports that at least 137 mining companies are risking losing their mining licences for refusing to comply with the country's new indigenization regulations. Affected companies include Anglo-American, Murowa Diamonds and Metallon Gold, according to the newspaper, which notes that 38 companies have complied. The government of Zimbabwe, the country with the largest platinum reserves outside number one producer South Africa, is demanding 51% of all foreign-owned mines operating in the country under its so-called indigenization laws.

Business Insider reports that the heart of the American coal industry, Central Appalachia, could soon be a shadow of its former self. According to the US Department of Energy, the amount of Appalachian coal will be less than half that mined in 2008 within the next three years, says Business Insider, because most of the easy-to-reach resources have been exhausted.

A recent journal article says that coal-fired power is harming the US economy more than it is helping it. The article in the American Economic Review, titled “Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy,” essentially states that coal plants are responsible for a quarter of gross external damages (GED) to the US economy, measured in terms of sickness and death caused by major pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Country risk is one of the most important factors in mining, and a new study ranks Australia as the seventh best place to mine in terms of risk. Topping the list was Finland, which got a low score of 7, followed by Chile (9.7), Burkina Fasso (11), Botswana and Sweden (11.3), U.S. (11.4), Brazil (11.9), Canada (12.4) and Argentina (13.1).