The caribou population in the Athabasca Oil Sands area in Alberta, Canada could be extinct in 30 years due to human activity, according to new research. Wolves have been blamed for the dwindling caribou population in parts of Alberta, but research published in the June issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment says human activity related to oil production and the timber industry could be more important than wolves in the caribou population decline.

Former Arizona congressman Richard Renzi must face public corruption charges over allegations that he coerced a mining company into buying land from one of his former business partners, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday. Renzi was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002.

Zimbabwe has been given the green light to sell diamonds from its Marange diamond fields by the industry's leading certification system, but the decision did not have the backing of all members. Participants of the Kimberley Process, which aims to stop "conflict diamonds" entering the market, met this week in Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss the Marange diamond fields but remained divided over a final statement.

Dynacor Gold Mines Inc. (TSX:DNG) is pleased to provide a second quarter operations update. In the month of May, Dynacor produced from its custom milling plant a historic best of 4,183 ounces of gold (representing more than 50,000 ounces on an annualized rate). Furthermore, during Q1-2011 the company, using cash directly generated from operations, optimized the plant's yield at the current capacity of 180 tpd (tonnes per day). The expansion program, which included installation of an additional cyanidation tank and a 90 tpd ball mill, will facilitate a capacity increase from 180 tpd to just over 200 tpd during the 2nd part of 2011.

Western Copper Corporation (TSX:WRN)(NYSE Amex:WRN) announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved a proposal to undertake a spin-out transaction that would reorganize the business and capital structure of the company into three separate public companies to allow Western Copper to focus on the development of its flagship Casino copper/gold/silver/molybdenum project.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, has reported that U.S. coal exports in the first quarter of this year were 26.6 million tons, representing the highest level of quarterly coal exports since 1992, when 27 million tons of coal were exported from the U.S. Coal exports were up 49% from the corresponding quarter of 2010 and were double first-quarter 2009 levels. Industrial Info is tracking more than $12.8 billion in active U.S. projects involving the mining and processing of coal. The increased demand from abroad is helping fuel not only grassroot coal mine construction, but also the expansion and restart of existing coal mines.

allmineral has been awarded three independent contracts to supply its mineral processing products and equipment to the Rio Tinto Low Grade Iron Ore Pilot Plant.  The pilot plant, which will be located at the Brockman 4 mine site in Western Australia, 60km north west of Tom Price, will play a strategic part in the optimisation of beneficiation options for future Pilbara lower grade deposits.

Astra Mining, an Australian diversified mining company, has signed an option agreement to fund the acquisition of an operating gold mine in Cambodia which presently has an exploration licence.The agreement provides Astra with a majority interest in Petone Mining (Asia) which has the acquisition agreement for the mine. A mining licence will be applied for prior to production expansion of the mine.

The Star Phoenix reports on Thursday BHP Billiton plans to spend an additional $488 million at its Jansen potash project east of Saskatoon, Canada bringing the company's total investment to $1.2 billion. If converted to a mine Jansen would have a maximum operational capacity of eight million tonnes per year and would cost an estimated $12 billion. Production could start in 2015 with an estimated life of mine of 70 years.