An expansion of one of the world's largest open pit copper mine received an important boost Monday after Utah regulators signed off on a permit allowing increased emissions from dust. Kennecott Utah Copper can now begin to actively pursue almost two dozen other permits that are needed for the mine's expansion, including approvals for the conversion of a coal-fired power plant to natural gas.

Shell has signed an agreement with the Alberta and Canadian governments to ensure $865 million in funding is plugged into a project to capture and store some 1 million tonnes of CO₂ released from its upgrader near Edmonton. The facility processes heavy oil from the Athabasca oil sands and the Quest Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project comes after Shell’s announcement to expand its 100,000 barrels a day Athabasca project to 255,000 barrels per day.

Government and mining and agricultural companies are joining forces to offer jobseekers the opportunity to learn entry-level skills and help to meet the skills shortage in Queensland, Australia.

Under the Regional Agriculture and Mining Industry Training Project, 15 young Emerald residents will be teamed up with local training providers and businesses to obtain qualifications relevant to local industries, including Certificate Two Resources and Infrastructure Work Preparation, Certificate Two Rural Operations, BMA generic mining inductions and structured work placement.

The Micronutrient Initiative (MI) and Teck Resources Limited (Teck) announced today they are joining hands in a new partnership to develop and sustain zinc treatment programs to help save children's lives.

Iron, zinc and coal miner China Natural Resources shed 20% of its value on the Nasdaq stock exchange in morning trade on Monday in the absence of any fresh news about its operations while China Shen Zou Mining lost over 8%, the worst performers in the sector. Investors are continuing to worry about the soundness of Chinese companies that came to the US market through so-called reverse listings with the value of the 98 companies declining sharply in recent weeks as creative accounting and other irregularities are uncovered at firms engaging in operations as diverse as software and timber.

Nasdaq reports farmers want so much fertilizer to meet demand for agricultural products that potash producers are raising their prices on an almost constant basis now. Back in January 2010, German potash producer K+S was charging 285 euros – roughly $407 – per ton of potash. As of now, bulk clients are buying potash at 363 euros or $520 per ton, a 27% net increase over the last 18 months.

A merger between Quebec-based ECU Silver Mining and Golden Minerals of Chicago announced on Friday had investors scrambling for the exits on Monday with the two companies at one point trading down 3.9% and 7% respectively on a generally bad day for silver stocks. The combined company worth over $600m with extensive assets in South America will keep its headquarters in Golden, Colorado and the Golden Minerals name and will be headed by Golden CEO, Jeffrey Clevenger.

Investment site Motley Fool says gold stocks such as Newmont, Goldcorp and Freeport-McMoRan are trading as though gold has lost its luster entirely and slipped back below $1,250 per ounce and that this latest bout of weakness in the gold mining shares – occurring when quality producers are awash in record cash flow and cozy profit margins – has yielded valuations remarkably depressed.

Viking Minerals commenced the review of pre-drilling and geological mapping of its South Dolly Varden gold / copper claims in Elko County, Nevada. This mapping is to facilitate a resolution of the zones of mineralization outlined by the surface geochem and rock samples and the 3,000 foot delineated coincident Induced Polarization (IP) anomaly with the intersection of the diamond drill core holes.