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Federal authorities have shut down 12 mines in northern Mexico after inspections spurred by an accident last month that claimed the lives of 14 workers, the labor department said. Inspectors have already visited 41 of the 100 sites on their list, the department said in a statement.

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.

It has been reported that copper output in Zambia, Africa's top producer of the metal declined to 308,777 tonnes in the first five months of 2011 from 326,877 tonnes in the same period last year, the central bank said.

The ruins poke out of a monotonous stretch of scrub and beckon the world to visit Afghanistan as it was more than 1,400 years ago, when Buddhist monasteries dotted the landscape. An ancient citadel juts from a tall crag, standing sentinel over what once was a flourishing settlement. Image is from Reuters Video.

Supported by pick-up in spot demand and a better trend at the London Metal Exchange, zinc futures prices rose 0.39 per cent today. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, zinc for delivery in July traded higher by 40 paise or 0.39 per cent to Rs 103.25 per kg

Pimps man the park across from the historic Ulan Bator Hotel, popular with foreigners. They are keeping an eye on their employees -- about 20 women working in Mongolia's quickly expanding sex trade. Image by Tomascastelazo

Workers at US company Freeport McMoRan's giant gold and copper mine in Indonesia's Papua region agreed on Monday to end a strike that has lasted more than a week. Workers at US company Freeport McMoRan's giant gold and copper mine in Indonesia's Papua

Stillwater Mining, the only platinum and palladium producer in the U.S., announced on Monday that it will acquire Peregrine Metals for US$487.1 million. Peregrine Metals is a publicly-traded exploration and development company with gold and copper projects in Argentina and Peru. The company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.