Colombia’s President, Juan Manuel Santos, announced yesterday that the country will be issuing a new mining code to boost the industry and reinforce control of illegal mining.

Representatives of Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), the country’s biggest producer of the steel-making ingredient, appeared in court yesterday as it is facing five charges related to a fatal accident in 2010.

Shares in Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (LON, ASX: AQP), the fourth- largest producer of the metal, dropped 11% this morning in Johannesburg, the deepest decline since October 2008, after the company announced that Zimbabwe has rejected a joint proposal with Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (PINK:IMPUY) to meet local ownership rules.

The Saskatchewan government has given approval for Golden Band Resources Inc. to open its Golden Heart gold mine in northern Saskatchewan.

The privatization process will see Mongolia's government holding a majority 51% stake after selling 19% to investors and distributing the remainder to its 2.7 million citizens, but the $3 billion IPO faces fresh delays in Hong Kong.

Mining and processing rare earths is a tricky business. Processing the materials is costly, and the supply of the 17 elements used in manufacturing everything from smart phones to electric cars and missile guidance systems is pretty much sewn up by China, which has 95% of the production.

Despite some price retracing in 2011, the copper physical market fundamentals remain strong, with liquid stocks near an all-time low.

Malaysian residents opposed to a rare earths processing facility have launched a legal challenged that threatens to delay the project put forward by Australia's Lynas Corp.

The job of putting up the proposed hybrid wind farm at Diavik Diamond Mine has begun. Trucks are beginning to take the blades for the windmills and its other components along the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road to the mine.