The Rasp underground mine in the heart of one of Australia' most historic mining centres -- Broken Hill's Line of Lode -- should be operating by April next year. Development of the Rasp mine on Central Mining Lease 7 is in one of the most intensely worked areas between the Perilya Ltd North and South mining leases and it had a stop-start scenario with the big stall being when the zinc price crashed in during the global financial crisis.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Monday it would seek a 14 percent rise in salaries from the country's gold and coal miners in upcoming wage talks. "We are asking for a 14 percent (increase) across the board for companies in gold mining and coal mining," said spokesman Lesiba Seshoka, adding that more details would be provided later.

Indonesia will audit over 8,000 existing mining permits to make sure they are in line with mining and environmental laws, the country's finance minister said on Monday, days after the country passed new regulations on environmental protection. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week signed a two-year moratorium on permits for logging and another decree allowing underground mining in protected forests if conditions such as an environmental assessment had been met.

China's rare earths exports in April were 53% down on a year earlier and 12.6% from the March figure, yet export value per tonne rose ten-fold, customs data showed on Monday. China, which controls about 97% of rare earth output, has angered customers in Japan, the United States and Europe by clamping down on production and sale of the 17 rare earth elements, citing a need to clean up highly polluting production processes and to stop illegal exports.

TATA Steel's European unit Corus said on Friday it will cut around 1,500 jobs in northern England as part of a restructuring of its long products unit, which supplies clients including builders and miners. Like others in the industry, Tata Steel has faced a margin squeeze since last year, as the price of raw materials increases but demand from sectors like construction remains muted.

Oraco Resources, Inc. (“Oraco”) announced today that it has acquired the contractual rights for the disposition of diamonds, gold, and any other minerals recovered in both the Zimmi Town, Pujehun District and the Gbense Tailings No. 5 reserve in the Koidu Town, Kono District of Sierra Leone through the acquisition of 100% of the ownership of Oraco Resources, Inc., a Canadian corporation (“ORI”), and Jyork Industries, Inc., a Sierra Leone company (“Jyork”). “Oraco’s main focus in Sierra Leone is to locate, prospect, and mine for diamonds, gold and other natural resources, while at the same time purchasing and exporting rough gem quality diamonds for sorting, polishing, cutting and sale”

Canada's Allana Potash Corp said drilling results showed that the potential of its Dallol project in Ethiopia could be extended beyond the original resource estimate, helping its shares pare some of their losses. Shares of the potash explorer, which were down as much as six percent midday before the news, recovered to trade down two percent at C$1.70 on the Toronto Venture Exchange. More than 2.5 million shares were traded by late afternoon.

Fast-growing Danish jewellery maker Pandora (PNDORA.CO: Quote) missed forecasts with a 55 percent rise in first-quarter profit as price rises failed to […]

Assays in from one of two new diamond drill holes into the WKP West gold prospect on the Coromandel Peninsula on New Zealand's North Island has given further proof of a large epithermal system for Newmont Mining and boutique gold miner and active explorer Glass Earth Gold Ltd. Glass Earth Gold Ltd (TSX-V & NZAX: GEL) said that drill hole WKP 27 on the WKP West prospect had produced a 152.4 metre section grading 1.16 grams/tonne gold and 2.22 g/t silver, within which the best section of 1.4m went 30.7 g/t gold and 77.7 g/t silver.

The main basis of my theory is sentiment, during the first week of May, before the dollar started rallying, only about 16% […]

Pan Pacific Copper Co, Japan's top smelter, said on Friday it and BHP had agreed to a 29 percent rise in copper treatment and refining fees for ores to be delivered in July-December, reflecting higher fees on the spot market. Pan Pacific, a unit of JX Holdings Inc , agreed to $90 a tonne for treatment fees and 9 cents a pound for refining for the six months, a company executive said.

Large copper smelters in China settled term treatment and refining charges with global miner BHP Billiton Ltd at $90 per tonne and 9 cents per pound respectively for delivery in the second half of this year, a smelter source said on Friday. The second-half treatment and refining charges, or TC/RC, will nearly double from the same period of 2010 and represent a rise of 25 percent from about $72 for the first half of 2011. The term TC/RC for the full year 2010 was $46.5 and 4.65 cents.