Fourteen miners in northern Mexico are trapped underground after a gas explosion, BBC News reported Tuesday. According the story, rescuers have been unable to contact the men due to high levels of methane gas in the mine shaft. The accident happened close to the U.S. border at a small artisinal mine in the northern state of Coahuila.

Business in Vancouver reports: In a labour negotiation that has avoided the kind of strikes seen at the company’s Elkview and Coal Mountain mines in recent months, Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX:TCK.A, TCK.B; NYSE:TCK) announced this morning that it has arrived at a tentative collective agreement with the workers at Fording River – B.C.’s largest mine.

The months-long saga over the future of Lundin Mining took another interesting twist on Friday, when a consortium of Chinese companies jumped in with a potential bid, according to a story in The Globe and Mail. Lundin has been the target of two takeover bids, the first by Inmet Mining, which recently fell through, and the second by Equinox Minerals, which unveiled a $4.8 billion hostile takeover bid to counter the Inmet offer. That deal was derailed when China's Minmetals Resources tried to acquire Equinox, which has since been acquired by Barrick Gold, which presented a richer offer worth $7.3 billion.

Inmet Mining bettered its earnings in the first quarter compared to Q1 of last year, Reuters reported: Inmet Mining's (IMN.TO) first quarter profit rose on higher metal prices and higher sales volumes, the Canadian copper producer said on Thursday. Inmet earned C$59.4 million, or 97 Canadian cents a share, from continuing operations. That compared with C$49.4 million or 96 Canadian cents a share in the year-ago period. The Toronto-based company sold its 18 percent stake in Ok Tedi Mining for $335 million in January.

A proposed merger between the parent companies of the Toronto and London stock exchanges will benefit junior mining companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), say two leading executives behind the deal. “We anticipate the merger will benefit public companies of all sizes, but in my opinion SMEs will benefit the most,” said John McCoach, president of the TSX Venture Exchange, speaking at a recent luncheon in Vancouver hosted by the BC Association of Mineral Exploration (AMEBC). “Investors will benefit from the increase in liquidity, lower transaction costs, and access to new investment products.”

A nickel mine in northern Manitoba will start producing again after a 6-month suspension of operations due to a dispute over contractors, […]

Thompson Creek Minerals has spurned an option with U.S. Energy Corp. to acquire an interest in the Mount Emmons molybdenum project in Colorado's Gunnison County. According to a story in today's Globe and Mail, the Denver-based company has decided instead to focus on exploring its Berg property in British Columbia: Chairman and CEO Kevin Loughrey said the property can potentially expand its molybdenum production while also helping the company's diversification efforts.

Rescuers and heavy equipment are picking through the debris in hopes of finding more survivors after a landslide thundered down a mountainside in the Philippines on Good Friday. The avalanche of mud hit the mining village of Panganason around 2:30 am Friday morning, according to a story posted on Inquirer.net. Clad in orange suits, the rescuers sifted through the rubble in the hope of adding more survivors—15 so far—plucked from the mud and rocks. But 21 people remained unaccounted for, according to Maj. Jake Obligado, commanding officer of the 71st Infantry Battalion.

A huge magnetite project in Western Australia could produce one and a half billion tonnes of magnetite and have a mine-life of 30 years, according to a story in The Kalgoorie Miner, posted on Mindax's website: A sleeping giant in the Yilgarn iron province is quietly ticking all the boxes on its way to production. Mindax's 1.48 billion tonne Mt Forrest magnetite project is the biggest JORC compliant iron resource in the region.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Leighton Holdings Ltd., and two joint venture partners, have obtained a contract worth $586 million, to last 66 months, at one of the richest diamond mines in Botswana.

Hathor Exploration has acquired Terra Ventures in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $24 million. Under the deal announced Monday, Terra shareholders will receive 20 cents of a Hathor common share for each common share held, which represents a 16% premium on Terra's April 15 closing share price of 33 cents.

Earth Energy Resources Inc. could be the first to break ground in the Utah oil sands after the Canadian company won the right to excavate, according to a story posted by the Daily Brew: The U.S. could be set to open its first oilsands project after an Alberta-based company qualified for a permit to dig on 25 hectares (62-acres) in Utah. Earth Energy Resources Inc. could be the first to break ground in the Utah oil sands after the Canadian company won the right to excavate, according to a story posted by the Daily Brew: The U.S. could be set to open its first oilsands project after an Alberta-based company qualified for a permit to dig on 25 hectares (62-acres) in Utah.