It may not be quite the same as hitting the local ATM, but China is making it easier for consumers to buy bullion. AFP reported on Sunday that the Beijing Agricultural Commercial Bank and a gold trading company have installed China's first gold vending machine in a busy shopping district of Beijing:

The State of Wisconsin is being forced to weigh the age-old concerns over environmental protection versus economic development as it looks to rewrite its mine law to accomodate a huge iron ore mine in an impoverished region of the state. Asked earlier this year to shorten its environmental permitting process from 5 years to 300 days, the State is now taking a second crack at rewriting its mining legislation after draft legislation was scrapped due to public outcry regarding the secretive nature of the process. Groups opposed to the open-pit mine, which would stretch four miles along Ashland and Iron Counties, say the mine would endanger water and air quality and create an ugly scar on the landscape.

One of the world's most exclusive jewellery sellers says it is prepared to cut more deals with diamond mines in exchange for preferential access to the precious stones, reports the FT. Tiffany & Co told the Financial Times it would repeat a deal it make this year to lend $50 million to a mine in Sierra Leone in exchange for the right to buy its rough diamonds.

Allana Potash Corp. (TSX:AAA)(OTCQX:ALLRF) ("Allana" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has intersected three zones of strong potash mineralization in Hole DK-11-27 ("Hole 27").

Job growth in mining and mining-related work in Australia is expected to increase by over 100% by 2031, outpacing other sectors of the economy, The Courier-Mail is reporting. The website says the total mining workforce is tipped to more than double in the next 20 years, from an estimated 693,000 who are now directly and indirectly employed to 1.45 million staff Australia-wide:

The election of Michael Sata to president of Zambia is not sitting well with copper miners who fear the 73-year-old, known as "King Cobra" for his aggressive style, will pick the pockets of mining companies, Bloomberg reports. Sata swept to power this week on a promise to create jobs and to extract more money from the mining industry in Zambia, Africa's largest copper producer. His win on Sept. 20 ends two decades of rule by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy.

As commodities prices including precious metals were plummetting Thursday on more bad economic news, the Premier of British Columbia provided a glimmer of hope for the BC mining industry. In unveiling the province's job-creation strategy, Clark said the government plans to capitalize on high demand for minerals, especially in Asia, by opening up eight new mines in the next four years and expanding nine more by 2015.

Canadian Press reported Thursday on the merger of US Gold Corp. (TSX:UXG) and Minera Andes Inc. (TSX:MAI) to form a new corporate entity called McEwen Mining.

Helia Resource Corp (TSX-V:HRC) has unearthed a one-kilometre strike zone at its SMP gold project in Tanzania. While artisinal mining has focused on narrow vein surface outcroppings, some containing assays up to 150 g/t gold, the new Chura zone appears to contain one kilometre of mineralization with a 2K-long magnetic anomaly, Helio stated in a news release.

Iron ore's 20-year price run is likely to come to an end in the next three years, according to new data from Bloomberg, with a surge in supply set to knock $50 off the price of the crucial steelmaking ingredient by 2015: Global prices may fall 29 percent to an average $123 a metric ton in 2015 from a record $173 this year, according to the median estimates of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The decline contrasts with estimates for little change in copper and a 10 percent increase for aluminum in the same period, London Metal Exchange futures prices show.

A Norwegian mining company aiming to develop one of the world's largest nickel mines is taking extra measures to convince local populations the mine "is not what people perceive it to be," says a report in mb.com.ph.

The controversial practice of fracking — which involves pumping a mix of sand, water and chemicals into a well to fracture the rock and release natural gas — has attracted widespread criticism for its potential to contaminate drinking water and cause minor earthquakes. Now a new environmental threat is emerging from the process: sand mining.