In the last 25 years, the percentage of Aboriginal workers in Rio Tinto's Australian workforce has gone from 0.5 to 8. Today, The Australian reports, the company is believed to be the biggest private-sector employer of indigenous Australians.

At the company’s Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley, for example, almost 25 per cent of the workforce is Aboriginal. In the booming iron ore country of the Pilbara, where 13 per cent of the population is Aboriginal, Rio aims to lift indigenous employment by 1 per cent a year.

Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. ("Peregrine" or "the Company") (TSX:PGD) is pleased to report the discovery of the CH-51 kimberlite by core drilling on the Chidliak project ("Chidliak") on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. CH-51 is the first target drilled in 2011 and the fifty-first kimberlite discovered at Chidliak since 2008. CH-51 is located approximately 200 metres south of the CH-17 kimberlite, ten kilometres south of the CH-28 kimberlite and 40 kilometres north of the Southern Focus Area. Currently, CH-28 and six kimberlites within the Southern Focus Area have characteristics consistent with economic potential in Arctic settings.

Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:QRM) is pleased to report that its Board of Directors has approved funding for a pre-feasibility study […]

Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX) ("Barrick" or "the Company") announced today that it has entered into a support agreement with Equinox Minerals Limited (TSX:EQN)(ASX:EQN)("Equinox") for Barrick to acquire, through an all-cash offer, all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Equinox (including the shares represented by Equinox's CHESS Depositary Interests) by way of a friendly take-over offer (the "Offer"). The Offer is for C$8.15 per Equinox share in cash, or a total of approximately C$7.3 billion. The Offer represents a 30% premium based on Equinox's closing share price on the Toronto Stock Exchange on February 25, 2011 (the last trading day before Equinox announced its intention to make a take-over bid for the common shares of Lundin Mining Corporation).

This two-day course presented by Market Motion Media, Inc. will be held 6-7 June at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, B.C., 9-10 June at the Sheraton Centre, Toronto, and 17-18 October in London.

Mine-finders, fund managers, accredited investors, mining company officers, prospectors, and investor relations officers will benefit from a two-day accredited course featuring Dr. David Groves on how to apply geology's lessons when evaluating junior mining companies and their properties.

India's Tata Steel , the world's No 7 steelmaker, will hold on to its stake in Africa-focused Riversdale Mining , its vice chairman said on Monday. "We will continue to hold on to our stake," B Muthuraman told reporters.

After more than nine days of holding out hope that trapped miner Larry “Pete” Marek was alive after a mine collapse, Hecla Mining Company said it believed Marek was dead and changed the rescue mission for Marek into a recovery mission at the Lucky Friday Mine early Easter Sunday morning. In a press release, Hecla stated “we are heartbroken to report that we now believe that Larry was under the fall of ground when it occurred and is deceased.”

Mid-tier gold miner Iamgold's quarterly gold production rose 41 percent on strong performance at its largest assets, the Rosebel mine in Suriname and Essakane mine in Burkina Faso. Toronto-based Iamgold, which also has mines in Canada, South America and Africa, said gold production came in at 290,000 attributable ounces at a cash cost of $570 to $580 per ounce.

Rare earths project developer, Lynas, reckons independent review of its proposed Malaysian processing facility will not pose a delay for project completion.