Rio Tinto announced on Tuesday that it paid Can$73 million for 49% of Ivanhoe Mines. Rio Tinto acquired an additional 3,700,000 common shares in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Rio Tinto International Holdings Limited, increasing Rio Tinto's ownership in Ivanhoe Mines by 0.5 per cent to a total of 361,858,442 common shares or 49 per cent through a privately negotiated share purchase agreement.

North Atlantic Potash Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of JSC Acron, and Rio Tinto today signed a joint venture agreement on potash exploration opportunities and possible mine construction. The agreement relates to North Atlantic Potash''s potash permit holdings located in the southern part of Saskatchewan''s potash district. The joint venture will cover nine permitted areas that cover an area of about 600,000 acres (about 241,000 hectares) that extends from the eastern shore of Last Mountain Lake southeast toBroadview (see map on website: permits KP 375 in the west to KP 403 in the east).

Johannesburg. Tuesday, 27 September 2011. Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (Harmony) regrets to advise that following an ore pass accident and subsequent rescue efforts, an employee and two members of an external rescue team were fatally injured yesterday at its Evander mine in Mpumalanga. Investigations are currently underway to establish the causes of the accidents. Operations at the mine have been stopped until investigations have been completed

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO--(Marketwire - Sep 27, 2011) - Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE Amex: GORO) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a $20 million stock repurchase program. Gold Resource Corporation is a low-cost gold producer with operations in the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The Company has returned over $25 million to shareholders in monthly dividends since declaring commercial production July 1, 2010.

Several community colleges in Colorado have been selected to receive a grants to support their training for high-skilled, high-wage jobs in mining, clean energy, water management and oil and gas, the Fowler Tribune reports.

"This is a win-win for Colorado's workers and employers. By enabling colleges to work directly with private employers, students will get the specific skills that make them competitive for higher-paying jobs in growing industries - and employers will get a well-trained workforce they can rely on," Senator Mark Udall said.

The newly-opened Wiradjuri Study Centre in Condobolin, NSW, Australia aims to boost employment prospects for the local indigenous community in mining, construction, transport, and administration, Invest in Australia reports.

Owned and managed by the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation, the Indigenous Study Centre was built using local materials and local Indigenous labour, and will apply culturally-appropriate teaching methods to engage the local Aboriginal community and encourage participation in nationally-recognised vocational courses.

The Observer: Tash Fee, head of the two-year-old mine training company, TNT Training Solutions, has won the Individual Award for Excellence in Training at the Mining Industry Skills Centre Training Awards, and has been recognized for her role in encouraging women into mining careers.

TNT Training Solutions provides training in everything from working at heights and confined spaces to fire training and a range of other skills. Originally a motor mechanic, Ms Fee started working as a fitter in the mines.

FLSmidth has received four contracts, each worth approximately EUR 40m (approximately DKK 300m) from a company in the Middle East for engineering services and minerals equipment. Each order entails the supply of one SAG mill, two ball mills, with associated pebble crusher, screens, pumps and cyclones along with engineering services and auxiliary equipment.

White Tiger Gold, a Russian exploration company, granted a $10 million credit facility to Century Mining. The two companies will be combined at the end of the year. The funds will be used to help Century Mining expand. Century Mining has operating gold mines in Quebec and Peru.