While the sordid details emerging from the proceedings are humiliating enough there may be some serious financial implications for Gina Rinehart – mining's 4th richest person with a fortune pegged at around $18 billion – as well. On top of the tax loopholes in family trusts exposed by the Rinehart saga, it has also emerged that Hancock Prospecting has not submitted annual financial statements for the past two years.

Kemira Minerals and Metals will be holding a one-day workshop on polymers preceding the 3-day PASTE seminar in Sun City, South Africa this April, reports mining-technology.com.

Along with representatives from other global manufacturers and suppliers of polymers, Kemira's Mick Bower will lend his experience and insight to the fundamentals of coagulation and flocculation applied to paste thickening, as well as conventional uses and methods of application.

Kinross Gold will provide $625,000 over the next five year period in support of a Mine Health and Safety Professorship at Queens University, reports the Canadian Mining Journal.

The funding will support both undergraduate and graduate courses on mining health and safety; short courses on H&S for industrial practitioners; and development of educational materials.

After years of on-road and underground testing, PapaBravo Innovations announced the availability of their line of heavy duty 4 x 4, 1 ton electric mining trucks in 2011.

Boart Longyear, the world's largest mineral exploration drilling company, had a record year in 2011 and expects more of the same in 2012 as the mining industry majors continue to demand drill rigs to meet their exploration capital expenditure budgets.

The U.S., Japan and the European Union have filed an official complaint at the World Trade Organization this morning, urging the body to take actions against China’s restrictions on these metals. President Obama warned China that it would not be allowed to gain a competitive advantage in world trade by "skirting the rules."

Shares of Chilean miner Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) were down 3.1% this morning after the company disappointed market hopes for a whopping special dividend and announced instead a cut on dividends and an increased spending on growth projects.

Once the world's biggest gold producer by a huge margin, South Africa's gold production is continuing to dive with an 11.3% fall year on year in January, following an 8.2% drop in December.

MarketWatch quotes  Nomura economist Zhiwei Zhang as saying:  "Overall, economic conditions are getting weaker at a fast pace. The slowdown is happening faster than the government expected."