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Mining contributed $50 billion to the country’s GDP in 2011, he said, and provides “well paying” jobs for more than 300,000 Canadians.

BHP's four largest projects – Olympic Dam, the Outer Harbour iron ore infrastructure project in Australia, expansion of its US shale gas operations and Jansen potash in Saskatchewan, Canada – require $120 billion in capex costs, but will only start to contribute to the bottom line by 2023.

In a scathing new BBC documentary that includes the first ever television interview with CEO Ivan Glasenberg, commodities trader Glencore is accused of allowing dumping of acid into streams, child labour and deadly underground working conditions at its copper-cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto not only have to deal with higher projected mining and processing costs at the mega-mine but also development delays and most worryingly, lower ore grades.

Output from the resources industry in the African nation is now the lowest since 1961, the year South Africa left the British Commonwealth and declared itself a republic

Metals producer Doe Run Peru’s creditors rejected a restructuring plan the company presented with a view to restarting operations at the La Oroya smelter, said in a statement the Energy and Mines Ministry, Jorge Merino Tafur.

The melting ice cap in the Arctic sea could open up access to immense mineral reserves, attracting billions of dollars in investment, but also bringing with it unique risks and challenges, says Lloyd’s/Chatham House latest Risk Insight report.

Victor Wyprysky, President and CEO of Chieftain Metals Inc., commented: "Chieftain's immediate attention to provide a solution to the historic environmental issues at Tulsequah demonstrates the high importance we place on community and stakeholders concerns as we move "The Chief" to construction start."

The Chinese economy is likely to land softly, rather than with a jolt, with growth forecast at 8.2% this year and 8.6% in 2013, according to The World Bank.