SNC-Lavalin, a major engineering and construction firm, was awarded a $650 million oil sands contract to design and build a froth treatment plant near Fort McMurray. SNC-Lavalin says that the froth treatment plant will process 155,000 barrels of feedstock per day from the bitumen extraction plant in the form of bitumen froth. Engineering is already underway and construction is expected to start this February. The whole project should be completed by September 2014.

Mining and geoscience degrees pay well compared to other degrees, but they are not popular with students. The Wall Street Journal published an interactive chart that compares 173 possible college degrees looking at pay, earnings and current unemployment. While the natural resource sector is still doing well compared to the rest of the economy, it was not surprising that degrees related to the field showed the lowest unemployment and some of the highest earnings. Mining and mineral engineering degree has the third highest median earnings at $101,000 per year. The top paying was petroleum engineering at $127,000 per year. A degree in geological and geophysical engineering was in the top 25 of highest paid out of 173 possible degrees.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) will undertake the next phase of its five-year, $2.1 billion investment plan for its Baie-Comeau, Deschambault and Becancour smelters in Quebec. "The plan will move the Quebec smelters down the aluminum cost curve by 13 percentage points and contribute to Alcoa’s goal of achieving an overall 10-point improvement. The plan will also increase production capacity by 120,000 metric tons per year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said the company, which announced the approval on Monday. Alcoa estimates that 6,800 job-years will be sustained during the construction, and there will be $500 million of economic spin offs for the region.

QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Nov. 8, 2011) - Robex Resources inc. (TSX VENTURE:RBX)(FRANKFURT:RB4) is pleased to announce the excellent results of the feasibility study for its 100%-owned Nampala project located on the Mininko permit in Mali. The feasibility study was prepared by a consortium of prominent internationally renowned mining industry consultants lead by the engineering consulting firm Bumigeme assisted by engineering firm Met-Chem Canada (Met-Chem) and Mr. Jacques Marchand, independent engineer and qualified person (QP) for mineral resource estimation as defined by NI 43-101.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports in a major policy victory for Australia's Gillard government's controversial carbon pricing scheme has passed parliament with Labor and the Australian Greens forcing the 18 so-called clean energy bills through the Senate. The laws – fiercely opposed by the country's mining sector which says it will lead to more than 20 mine closures and cost thousands of jobs – will force Australia's top 500 polluting companies to pay a tax of $24.50/tonne on carbon emissions from July 2012. On top of the carbon tax set to kick in mid-2012, Australian miners also have to contend with the new minerals resource rent tax set at an effective 22.5% rate on the so-called super-profits of the extractive industries.

Radio Fiji reports the island's Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama opened the Bua bauxite mine at Nawailevu in Bua province on Tuesday. Mining and exporting work at the mine is expected to commence straight after the opening of the mine today. Nawailevu will be Fiji's first bauxite mine and will become the third operating mine in Fiji. The other two are the Vatukoula and the Wainivesi gold mines.

Animation Insider reports SpongeBob SquarePants contributes a hefty amount to Nickelodeon Consumer Product's estimated $5.5 billion in annual, worldwide retail sales. For international coin collectors – or for that one die-hard SpongeBob fan who must have absolutely everything – two companies are partnering with Nickelodeon to manufacture a limited run of four, one-ounce, silver legal tender, based on the cartoon. PFG Precious Metals from Chicago, a wholesale precious metals company, and the New Zealand Mint, a respected minter legal tender for four and a half decades, are now accepting orders for SpongeBob silver.

MarketWatch reports gold futures closed higher Monday, coming to within striking distance of the $1,800 an ounce level, as ongoing concerns over the euro-zone debt crisis and reports that Germany rejected calls to use its gold reserves to help shore up the region’s rescue fund helped boost prices. Gold for December delivery rose more than 2% earlier in the day to trade at $1,794, a six week high. Bullion is now up almost $200/oz from lows hit at the end of September when it briefly changed hands for less than $1,600/oz.

Taseko Mines' hopes were kept alive when the Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent, ordered the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to set up a panel to examine the company's New Prosperity copper-gold mine. "The Minister of the Environment instructed the Agency to design a process that will thoroughly assess whether the proposal addresses the environmental effects identified in the environmental assessment of the original Prosperity project. He also directed the Agency to ensure that information obtained during the previous environmental assessment is used to the extent possible in order to ensure a timely decision," said the agency in a statement. The review, which will include public hearings, are supposed to be wrapped up in a year.