Large copper smelters in China settled term treatment and refining charges with global miner BHP Billiton Ltd at $90 per tonne and 9 cents per pound respectively for delivery in the second half of this year, a smelter source said on Friday. The second-half treatment and refining charges, or TC/RC, will nearly double from the same period of 2010 and represent a rise of 25 percent from about $72 for the first half of 2011. The term TC/RC for the full year 2010 was $46.5 and 4.65 cents.

The West Virginia Governor's Independent Investigation Panel announced Thursday its findings that the explosion that killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch coal mine on April 5, 2010, was preventable. J. Davitt McAteer, the former head of MSHA, who headed the state investigation, told the news media "a great deal went wrong. A great many problems occurred that led to this disaster."

Miner Lonmin LMIJ.J (LMI.L: Quote) said on Friday that there was unspecified industrial action taking place at its Marikana operations in South Africa by members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). "Lonmin announced today that it is currently experiencing unprotected industrial action by NUM members at the Karee operations of its Marikana operations. As a result, production at Karee has been disrupted since the night shift of Tuesday 17th May," it said in a statement.

China's gold output in the first three months of 2011 totalled 73.412 tonnes, up 4.63 pct from the same months of 2010, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Friday. It said gold mining output was 60.262 tonnes, up 5.18 percent, while another 13.15 tonnes was obtained from smelting base metals, up 2.21 percent from a year earlier.

The International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) is presenting an online workshop to introduce the emerging science of life cycle assessment (LCA). The workshop will be held once a week for four weeks in June, and will allow participants to measure the environmental impacts of a product through all stages of its life, from cradle to grave.

The interactive course will be taught by Tom Gloria, PhD, a leading authority on LCA with more than 19 years professional experience in sustainability management consulting and information technology engineering design. ... His work encompasses product innovation; environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle management (LCM); methods and policy implications regarding greenhouse gas emissions inventories; and energy efficiency feasibility analysis.

For Environment Minister Peter Kent, it only gets harder from here. The minister spent his first hours on the job in the new cabinet receiving an international award for Ottawa’s conservation efforts. Now, he has to take on the oilsands. National parks are the shiny, bright side of Canada’s environmental policy, long recognized for preserving and protecting fragile lands and waters, and reintroducing endangered species. But Kent is also tasked with cutting Canada’s greenhouse-gas emissions by 17 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020 — with one hand tied behind his back.

Global Earth Energy and its Texas-based joint venture partner Modern Coal announced on Thursday the offer by Pacific Coast Plaza Inc. to purchase 100,000 metric tons of coal per month for a period of 36 months. The price of coal is approximately $85 per metric ton valuing the deal at over $300 million. The current plan is to have the coal loaded on barges from a suitable port yet to be determined.

The ITRI reports that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government has withdrawn its troops from the Bisie mine, which has until recently been the largest tin mining operation in the country. The Wall Street Journal reported that military units have been withdrawing from the mine over the past six weeks to allow the North Kivu provincial mining department to assume control of the mine.

Anaconda Mining Inc. ("Anaconda") - (TSX: ANX) is pleased to announce that, on May 4, 2011, it shipped a record amount of gold, 344.2 troy ounces, in a single pour at its Pine Cove gold mine ("Pine Cove"). The production was during an approximately 7-day period from April 25ththrough May 1st. In addition, overall recovery rates at the Pine Cove mill continue to improve. In the press release dated May 2, 2011, Anaconda reported that overall recovery had reached the low to mid 70% range. During the period from May 1st through May 15th, overall mill recovery was approximately 80%.