Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp. (TSX:CXX) has launched a US$12.85 million hostile bid for US uranium assets owned by Australian American Mining Corporation Limited (ASX:AIW). Crosshair has written directly to AusAm shareholders to outline their proposal and call on shareholders to support Crosshair's efforts to "unlock the value in AusAm." Under the proposal, AusAm would receive consideration of US$12.85 million in Crosshair shares, in return for AusAm's uranium assets in Nevada, Texas and New Mexico.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a big buzzword in mining, as companies strive to meet increasingly stringent environmental and social obligations, while remainining profitable. 'Third National Civic Forum and CEO Summit on Building Corporate Responsibility', hosted by the FGL Open Global Business Society, will discuss these issues at a conference on Oct. 12 in Toronto, Canada. MINING.com speaks with conference organizer David Mitrovica about why CSR is important in mining, and what conference attendees can expect from the conference in Toronto:

The head of the world's largest manufacturer of mining equipment says he does not see a return to recession in the United States. “I don’t see a return to high growth, but I think we’re going to bump along,” Doug Oberhelman, CEO of Caterpillar Inc., told the FT at the company's headquarters in Peoria, Illinois, this week.

Oil sands miners in northern Alberta are pooling new knowledge to tackle an old foe: tailings. It's an unusual collaboration in an industry that is famously secretive for fear of losing an edge to competitors. The StarTribune reports on how companies participating in the Oil Sands Tailings Consortium — a 7-member group formed last December to share tailings research and technology — are spending over $90 million this year to address the common problem of how to dispose of wet tailings left behind when bitumen is extracted from oil sands.

Could the world's largest commodity trading firm dirty its hands by becoming an iron ore miner? The answer, according to a report this week in Marketwatch, is a strong maybe. Marketwatch reports the Swiss-based company's CEO, Ivan Glasenberg, saying that Glencore will look to grow its presence in iron ore via marketing opportunities and equity investments:

Ollanta Humala, President-elect of Peru, fulfilled a campaign promise Thursday in announcing his government's intention to hit mining companies with higher royalty taxes. Humala, who was elected in July, campaigned on a promise to tax mining company profits and distribute them to the poor — a development that had investors and mining company CEOs running for cover in a country that is the world's second largest producer of copper and the sixth biggest gold miner. Companies now pay between 1% and 3% in royalties.

Working in a mine is more dangerous than being a police officer in America, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A top executive at Saskatchewan PotashCorp says potash producers will not be able to meet the 2011 world supply capability of 61 million tonnes. David Delaney, PotashCorp executive vice-president and chief operating officer, said in a conference call Tuesday that "hitting the target would have required "perfect production, very little downtime. When you're pulling all these operations around the world that hard, it's really difficult to do."

Shares of Minara Resources jumped 36% today on news of a takeover bid by Swiss-based commodities trader Glencore Resources. Glencore, which went public in May with an astonishing $11 billion IPO, is seeking to buy a minority position in Minara, of which it already owns 73.4%, for AU$268 million.

The economic malaise that had markets pushing deep into the red over the last two weeks hit a bright spot on Tuesday. Copper futures rose the most in over a week, Bloomberg reported, on news of an uptick in the Chinese manufacturing sector.

Canada's largest iron ore producer is looking to expand its operations in Newfoundland/Labrador. IOC announced last week that it has launched a study to evaluate options that would increase production to 50 million tonnes per year by 2016. The expansion effectively doubles IOC's capacity from 26 million tonnes per annum, the target set for 2013 after the completion of three concentrate expansion projects (COPs).

While miners in Chile, South Africa, Indonesia and Mexico downed tools recently to strike for higher wages, those working in the Canadian mining sector can take comfort in knowing that their pay packets are expected to grow fatter than workers in other Canadian industries. According to a report by consulting firm Hay Group, which surveyed 660 Canadian employers, companies expect to see wages climb 2.8 per cent on average across their work force in 2012, with salary gains of 3.8 per cent in the mining sector and 3.7 per cent in the oil and gas field.