Shares of Endeavour Mining were up 6.15% on the TSX on Monday, after the Canadian company agreed to buy Australia's Adamus Resources, which gained 9% on the news.

Lawyers for Swiss mining giant Xstrata are in court today defending a massive coal project slated for Queensland. The AU$6 billion Wandoan coal mine has come under fire by environmentalists for its potential negative effects on the Great Barrier Reef. Bloomberg reports that Friends of the Earth, an international environmental lobby group, is attempting to block the mine’s approval at a trial in Brisbane that’s scheduled to take two weeks, arguing the coal exported from the project and burned overseas will add to global warming.

Aurizon Mines reported gross profits of $29.1 million in the second quarter, a 45% increase from the same period last year, while net profit was up 17%. Chief executive David Hall credited stronger cash flows due to better performance from the Casa Berardi mine in the Abitibi region of Quebec, Canada, where the company is deepening the shaft and conducting the largest exploration program in Aurizon's history. Aurizon produced 41,418 ounces of gold in Q2, an 8% increase from the same period last year, at cash costs of US$544/oz. Image of Aurizon Mines' Joanna project

The lawyer who acquitted the geologist at the centre of the Bre-X scandal is facing a disciplinary hearing in Toronto for his conduct during the trial, which happened a decade ago. The Law Society of Upper Canada accuses Joe Groia of professional conduct for "incivility" during the trial, The Globe and Mail reported on Thursday: Mr. Groia, 56, criticized in previous court judgments for using “petulant invective” and “guerillia theatre” in the Bre-X trial, faces anything from a reprimand to the revocation of his licence if a three-member Law Society panel finds he violated the profession's rules.

Shares in Kinross Gold leapt 4.5% on Wednesday after the company published a positive second-quarter earnings report. Toronto-based Kinross said it had a record quarter for gold production due to additional product from its Kupol gold and silver mine in Russia, of which the company acquired 100% in April, and from West Africa operations that were acquired last September. Kinross poured 676,245 gold ounces of gold in Q2, a 26% increase over the same period last year.

Lundin Mining is once again the target of takeover speculation, after the Daily Telegraph fed the rumour mill with talk of JP Morgan advising BHP Billiton and Belgian zinc miner Nyrstar on a joint bid for Lundin. The market reacted favourably to the speculation on Tuesday, bidding up the stock by 14.5% on the TSX, but seasoned investors in Australia say a takeover by BHP is likely not in the cards.

The ban on iron ore exported from the state of Karnataka is having downstream effects on the supply of Indian steel, according to a story today in The Hindu Business Line. Quoting sources in the Bellary-Hospet region, the website says before the export of iron ore was banned in Karnataka in 2009, the state was producing about 42 million tonnes of iron ore and exporting 28 million tonnes. The following year, after the ban was implemented, 33.6 mt was produced, of which only 7.4 million tonnes was exported. But if all the iron ore pellets were used for sponge iron, pig iron and steelmaking, 41 million tonnes or iron ore would be required, or 33 million tonnes if the mills run at 80% capacity, leaving a significant supply shortfall, Hindu Business Line explains.

Leighton Holdings has sold mining services provider HWE Mining to BHP Billiton. 9News reports that Leighton has signed a heads of agreement for the sale of HWE, which accounts for close to 70% of BHP's iron ore mining in Western Australia. The sale is worth $1.1 billion, along with $1.4 billion worth of contracts in hand.

A tough-talking mining company CEO is warning that Australia suffers from "rich country's disease" and is in danger of becoming a welfare state unless workers discover a "hunger for excellence." The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Andrew Michelmore — the former head of Western Mining Corporation and now chief executive of Chinese government dominated MMG, based in Melbourne — said he lamented the immobility of the Australian workforce and the resulting skills shortage in remote areas such as Western Australia's Pilbara.

Kimberley Process members may be regretting their decision in June to allow Zimbabwe to export diamonds, with a new BBC documentary showing security forces beating and raping prisoners at two camps in the Marange diamond fields. The New York Times reported on the release Monday of the documentary "Panorama", which said the camps held workers recruited by the police and the military to diamonds for them, and then demand a large share of the profits: "According to the report, a released prisoner who was not named said guards at the camps were beating prisoners three times a day, with 40 lashes at a time. Dogs were loosed to bite shackled inmates, and imprisoned women were frequently raped, the program said."

Gold investors could reap record windfall benefits from the economic uncertainty that crashed global stock markets Monday, say J.P. Morgan commodity analysts Colin Fenton and Jonah Waxman. The analysts predicted bullion could rise to $2500/ oz by the end of 2011, compared to an earlier J.P. Morgan prediction of $1800/oz, made before Standard and Poor downgraded the US debt.

A copper mine proposed for southern Arizona is stuck in limbo while federal regulatory agencies decide whether to grant the mining company a permit. Canadian Business said Monday that Rosemont Copper is waiting for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to grant or deny a permit for the mine, located on a mix of private and public land in the Santa Rita Mountains some 30 miles southeast of Tucson.