Reuters reports Afghanistan has grand plans for a vast rail network to attract mining investors, but experts say the project would simply be a new target for insurgents and warn that sovereign risk and high production costs are also deterring companies. With an impoverished economy ravaged by more than three decades of war and corruption and now bank rolled by foreign aid, Afghanistan's government has pinned its hopes of rebuilding on untapped mineral resources of mainly iron ore and copper, which it has said could be worth up to $3 trillion.

Effective July 1, Atlas Copco's Portable Air Division is changing its name to the Portable Energy Division, a name which more accurately reflects the division’s extended product portfolio. The new Portable Energy division focuses on five “pillars”, each one relating to a product group: Air (on-site compressors), Power (on-site generators), Light (on-site light towers), Water (on-site pumps), and Used Equipment.

Canadian gold explorer Romarco Minerals, which has been pioneering the possible re-opening of South Carolina as the potential location for a significant gold mining area, has received something of a setback in a U.S. Corp of Engineers requirement that it submit an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a portion of what the company describes as "the low-functioning and impaired wetlands and streams onsite" at its exciting Haile gold mining project there. Image of the Haile gold mining area, by Romarco Minerals.

The Sowetan reports Tanzania will begin uranium mining in its southern Selous Game Reserve, Africa’s second-largest wildlife sanctuary and a Unesco heritage site (pictured), the energy minister said Tuesday. Australia’s Mantra Resources will start mining in late 2012 in the southern part of the 54,600-square kilometre park estimated to have 53.9 million pounds of uranium oxide deposits which is worth some $2.9bn at current market prices. The minister claimed that mining would only involve about 1% of the park's overall area and that income accrued from mining would help fund upkeep of the park, but environmentalists have slammed the plan.

A five-hour gun battle between Mexican marines and a drug gang in Mexico's principal silver mining state close to Fresnillo, left 15 dead raising more concerns about mine security in the area.

Investigators plan to pry open the final vault hidden deep under a centuries-old Indian Hindu temple as police guarded round the clock the shrine where billions of dollars worth of treasure has been discovered. Over the last week a seven-member team of investigators has broken into five of the six secret subterranean vaults piled high with jewels that have lain untouched for hundreds of years.

The Guardian reports the billionaire chief of ArcelorMittal Lakshmi Mittal is planning a giant new opencast mine 300 miles inside the Arctic Circle in a bid to extract a potential $23bn worth of iron ore. The mega-mine – which includes a 150km railway line and two new ports – is believed to be the largest mineral extraction project in the Arctic and highlights the huge commercial potential of the far north as global warming makes industrial development in the region easier.

An environmental engineer says Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) should not have reopened its uranium mine within Kakadu National Park last month without committing to a waste water treatment plan. The company had to stop processing uranium ore for five months during the Northern Territory wet season because its radioactive tailings dam got too close to capacity. Image of Ranger Uranium Mine in Kakadu National Park, east of Darwin, Australia was uploaded to Wikipedia by Stephen Codrington

StockMarketWire.com reports shares in Vane Minerals  jumped by over 17% after it revealed higher grade gold/silver production as a result of the joint venture formed with the Ruiz Brothers in June last year.  The results are the first that report the recovery progress from switching feedstock from solely Vane's wholly-owned Diablito mine to combining areas owned and mined by Ruiz. Headed by the ex-head of exploration at Freeport-McMoRan, Steven Van Nort, Vane also has gold and copper exploration projects in Mexico and Paraguay and uranium assets in Utah and Arizona.