Rio Tinto, the world’s second- largest mining company, said third-quarter iron ore output and coking coal production reached record highs after recovering from disruptions caused by flooding in Australia earlier in the year and continued strong demand from Asia. Iron ore production increased to just shy of 50 million metric tons and hard coking coal production was 55% higher than the second quarter. Analysts say iron ore prices may climb above $200 a ton on the back of supply shortages while metallurgical coal have been trading at record highs of $330 during 2011.

St. Louis Business Journal reports Peabody Energy on Thursday received clearance from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China to proceed with its and ArcelorMittal’s $4.7 billion takeover bid for Macarthur Coal Ltd. in Australia. The Macurthur deal is good news for the US giant after it recently lost out on a chance to co-develop the world’s largest deposit of high-quality coking coal. Miners are scrambling for coal assets and coal for power-generation has averaged about $130/tonne this year from less than $100 in 2010 while metallurgical coal has been trading at record levels of $330/tonne.

According to data posted on the website of the Chinese General Administration of Customs, the country reported robust commodities purchases in September as traders took advantage of falling prices. Chinese copper imports hit a 16-month high in September after increasing almost 12% from a month earlier to 380,526 metric tons as domestic stockpiles were reduced by almost half since March. Copper imports have now showed gains for the fourth month in a row.

Real Gold, which halted trading in its shares on May 27. is under investigation by the Securities and Futures Commission for corporate governance breaches. The miner's announcement to the Hong Kong stock exchange late on Thursday said it was lookin...

Australian underground hard rock miner Barminco has received two national training awards in the past month in recgonition of their commitment to […]

The Australian Institute of Geologists (AIG) and EduMine will establish an 'online campus' which provides geologists access to development resources.

According to AIG president Andrew Waltho, "there are a wide range of courses available, covering technical topics spanning a variety of geoscientific fields, to issues becoming increasing important to geoscientists particularly in the exploration sector such as building relationships with community stakeholders and earning a social licence to operate.

Republican senators and members of congress introduced a bill to counter an effort by the Department of the Interior to remove mining rights from a region in northern Arizona, which borders Grand Canyon National Park. U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Mike Lee (R-UT) and U.S. Congressmen Trent Franks (AZ-02), Rob Bishop (UT-01), Jeff Flake (AZ-06), Paul Gosar (AZ-01), David Schweikert (AZ-05) and Ben Quayle (AZ-03) unveiled the Northern Arizona Mining Continuity Act on Wednesday.

Crocodile Gold Corp. (TSX:CRK)(OTCQX:CROCF)(FRANKFURT:XGC) ("Crocodile Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce additional high grade intersections from a drill hole at Crosscourse Deposit, Union Reefs. The intersections were found in a broad zone of medium grade mineralization and numerous sections of visible gold were seen throughout the significant core length beneath the Crosscourse pit. The entire 181.2 meter length from 389.2 to 570.4 meters returned an average grade of 1.81 g/t Au.

The combination of White Tiger Gold (CVE:WTG) and Century Mining received approval on Wednesday from the Government of Canada under the Investment Canada Act. Century Mining will become an indirect subsidiary of White Tiger. "We appreciate the approval given by the Government of Canada. We are now one step closer to creating a larger, more diversified gold mining company with multiple properties in various stages of production and development in Canada, Russia, and Peru" said Daniel Major, President and Chief Executive Officer of Century and Dr. Geoffrey Cowley, Chief Executive Officer of White Tiger in a joint statement.