Precious metals miner Fresnillo plans to double output at its newly opened Saucito mine in central Mexico by 2015 or 2016 in a second phase of expansion, a company executive said on Tuesday. With the project and other expansion plans, Fresnillo is looking to overtake BHP Billiton, which produces more silver as a by-product from other metals, as the world's biggest overall silver producer. The company's eponymous mine is the world's largest primary silver mine which has been in near continuous operation since 1550.

Zambia's Daily Mail reports Zambia is set to enter the world’s top five copper producers in the next three years as Vale South Africa, First Quantum Minerals Limited and Vedanta Resources Plc lead more than US$6 billion of investment in the country’s mines, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie unit Brook Hunt has said.

Chinese imports rose for the first time in three months in June as buying from overseas became profitable and supply tightened after consumers drained local stockpiles. There are “strong signs” that the country will “come back and buy in a more aggressive way,” according to Codelco, the top producer. Prices slid 3.7 percent in the first six months of the year as demand waned. The metal has gained 46 percent in the past year, reaching a record $4.6575 on Feb. 15.

Precious metals company North American Palladium Ltd expects underground production at its Vezza gold project in the Abitibi region of Quebec to begin early next year.

Australian uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia on Wednesday reported an 84 percent drop in second-quarter production from three months earlier, blaming voluntary interruptions in production due to safety concerns on flooding, but lifted its full-year production guidance.

Pan Asia Corporation Limited is pleased to announce that it has now executed a formal agreement with leading underground mining group KOPEX to undertake a Final Feasibility Study on the TCM Coal Project in South Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Atlas Copco has received an order from the Mexican mining group Peñoles. Valued at about $67 million, it is one of the largest underground mining equipment contracts ever for Atlas Copco, and the company's second large order in Mexico this year.

Gold futures added to record levels set earlier on Tuesday as Europe finance ministers consider allowing Greece to default on some of its debt, Italy's borrowing costs soar and US Federal Reserve minutes indicate the possibility of additional financial stimulus. Gold is considered a hedge against inflation and further quantitative easing could flood financial markets with cheap money as it did in the previous round – QE2 – when US monetary authorities injected some $600bn to drive down interest rates. Gold for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading at $1,568.40 an ounce in late trade after settling at a record $1,562.30 an ounce earlier.

Reuters reports China's Puda Coal said its auditor Moore Stephens has resigned, effective immediately, and the auditor warned that audit reports for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 should no longer be relied upon. In April, the Puda stock had been halted by the American Stock Exchange after the company said it will investigate unauthorized transactions in the shares of subsidiary Shanxi Coal by Chairman Ming Zhao, alleged by an website.