Canada’s mining industry continues to rally from the recent global recession, with this year’s production currently exceeding that of 2010, reports government department Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

Mining Weekly: the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) says that 100 000 people will be needed by 2020 to meet anticipated production in the mining industry in Canada, and there aren't enough students in mining training to meet the need.

MiHR executive director Ryan Montpellier explains that, during the global econo- mic downturn, students struggled to find employment and turned to other programmes. “However, by the time they graduate, the recruitment cycle has progressed and jobs are often available. Labour market intelli- gence is, therefore, a key source of information that needs to be communicated to prospective students and postsecondary educational institutions,” he says.

The U.S. State Department said Friday it expects to issue a final environmental assessment next month on TransCanada Corp's (TRP.TO) proposed $7 billion pipeline that would deliver crude from Canada's oil sands to refineries to Texas. The pipeline has been opposed by many lawmakers and environmentalists for greenhouse gas emissions associated with oil sands production and because the line would run across one of the world's largest aquifers.

Commodities finished higher with crude oil erasing early losses and ending just shy of $100 a barrel. Gold futures advanced to near record territory, trading above $1,600 an ounce.

Africa's biggest gold miner AngloGold Ashanti said on Friday it would acquire a 19.79 percent stake in Canadian gold and uranium producer First Uranium Corp for $30 million. AngloGold said it would buy the stake, which consists of 47 million shares and priced at $0.64 a share, from South Africa's Village Main Reef Gold Mining.

Neves Corvo, Ludin Mining's copper-zinc mine located in Portugal, will produce 4,000 tonnes less copper and 19,000 tonnes less of zinc in 2011. The cash cost of production at the mine will also climb from $1.40 to $1.65. Neves Corvo, which accounts for most of Lundin's copper output, was expected to produce 76,000 tonnes of copper and 25,000 tonnes of zinc. The outlook has now fallen to 72,000 tonnes of copper and 6,000 tonnes of zinc. However, zinc production at the company's Irish mine, Galmoy, was expected to rise from 17,000 tonnes to 28,000 tonnes.

Nautilus Minerals' (TSX:NUS)(AIM:NUS) Tongan subsidiary, Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd. ("TOML"), has become one of the first private sector organizations to be granted exploration licences in the highly prospective Clarion Clipperton Zone ("CCZ") of the Eastern Pacific. As a result of exploration conducted in the 1980s, the CCZ is known to host significant deposits of polymetallic nodules, which are golf ball sized nuggets, rich in copper, nickel, manganese and cobalt, lying on the seafloor in water depths starting at 4500 metres.

Namibia plans to raise its mining tax to 44 percent from 37.5 percent but said the hike will not apply to diamond mining companies, the ministry of finance said in a statement on Friday. The ministry said the country is facing volatility in its key revenue sources and is looking to strengthen revenue collection.

JSW Energy Ltd., the Indian power producer controlled by the billionaire Jindal family, delayed expansion of an electricity project because of high coal costs. The company will shelve a planned 3,200-megawatt expansion at a plant in Ratnagiri in the western state of Maharashtra as it waits for coal-pricing “clarity” from Indonesia and Australia, Chief Executive Officer Lalit Kumar Gupta said in an interview in Mumbai yesterday.