London-listed Gem Diamonds announced Wednesday it has found the world’s 15th largest white diamond at its Letšeng Mine in Lesotho, which is fast-becoming the richest source of large diamonds in the world. The company  said the type II D 553 carat colour diamond diamond is being analyzed in Antwerp at the moment and has not been named.  Without the occasional large diamond find, the Letšeng pipe would probably be a marginal deposit, but the mine, 30% owned by the King of Lesotho, has also yielded the 603 carat Lesotho Promise turned into a $12.4 million necklace (pictured). The 493 carat Letšeng Legacy sold for $10.4 million in 2007 and the 478 carat Light of Letšeng went for $18.4 million in 2008.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on an Australian study shows that vocational education and training (VET) prepares workers more completely for the workforce if they are instructed in the fundamentals of their industry rather than focussing on learning specific competencies.

The study looked at the mining, solar energy and computer games industries. It found the VET system could not cope with always delivering courses that were highly specific to particular companies and continuously-changing knowledge and skills. "But VET can provide people with the capability to learn and adapt to innovation-induced change," the report says.

Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS)(AIM:NUS) is to raise approximately US$100 million (C$98.1 million*) through a private placement of common shares to fund the development of its first project, Solwara 1, in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea. The placing will involve the issue of approximately 39 million shares to a number of investors at a price of CAD$2.52 (US$2.58) per share. Nautilus President and CEO Steve Rogers said the private placement would provide funds for the construction of the seafloor resource production system, which initially will be deployed at Solwara 1 – the company's first deepwater copper and gold project.

Actress Daryl Hannah was arrested Tuesday during a sit-in in front of the White House protesting a pipeline expansion project that would significantly increase the amount of oil the United States imports from Canada’s controversial Alberta oil sands. Image from Вени Марковски

VANCOUVER, CANADA--(Marketwire - Aug. 31, 2011) - Lithium One Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:LI), is pleased to report the delineation of a new zone (the "North Basin") containing thick halite sequences hosting high grade lithium and potassium brine at the Sal de Vida Project at Salar del Hombre Muerto, Argentina. The five core holes in this new discovery report grades averaging 852 mg/L lithium and 10,181 mg/L potassium within the first 55 metres from surface, with no cut-offs applied. The 50 km² North Basin is adjacent to, but geologically separated from, the 170 km² Central Basin where the Company has previously defined an inferred resource¹ of 5.4 million tonnes Lithium Carbonate equivalent and 21 million tonnes potassium chloride equivalent (1,470M m³ at 695 mg/L Li and 7590 mg/L K).

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Aug. 31, 2011) - Osisko Mining Corporation ("Osisko")(TSX:OSK)(FRANKFURT:EWX) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Caterpillar Financial ("Cat Financial") to increase its equipment leasing facility by US $56.3 million. The facility will be used to acquire additional mobile mining equipment fleet to develop the Canadian Malartic Mine and the Barnat gold deposit.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 31, 2011) - BCGold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:BCG)(PINK SHEETS:BCGOF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the first tranche of its private placement previously announced on July 11, 2011. The Company has raised $1,472,440 through the issuance of 2,660,000 of non-flow through units (the "NFT Units") at a price of $0.10 per NFT Unit and 10,053,663 flow through units (the "FT Units") at a price of $0.12 per FT Unit.

SYDNEY, Aug. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Vice President of Litigation BHP Billiton, Mr Damian Lovellhas today welcomed the introduction of the new ACICA Arbitration Rules designed to speed up the resolution of cross border and international commercial disputes. Mr Lovell, who is responsible for the dispute resolution strategy for the world's largest diversified mining company, said it is standard practice for BHP Billiton to include arbitration clauses in its cross border contracts:

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 31, 2011) - Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SPA) is pleased to announce the commencement of a Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") for the Spanish Mountain Gold Project (the "Project"). The PFS will refine the estimates of capital and operating costs that were the basis for the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) completed by the Company in December 2010. The Company currently has ongoing resource definition, geotechnical, metallurgical and power supply studies underway, the results of which will form part of the PFS.