The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Leighton Holdings Ltd., and two joint venture partners, have obtained a contract worth $586 million, to last 66 months, at one of the richest diamond mines in Botswana.

Teck Resources held an inauguration ceremony last Friday to celebrate the recent start of operations at its new Carmen de Andacollo copper concentrator. […]

In a scoping study, Lithium Americas outlined a plan to mine up to 40,000 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate in Argentina […]

Vancouver-based Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK) reported earnings attributable to its shareholders of $461 million, or $0.78 per share. Adjusted quarterly profit was $450 million, or $0.76 per share, more than double the $198 million reported in the first quarter of 2010. Image by Teck Resources Limited

Rapid progress on the predevelopment phase of the giant Kibali gold project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is paving the way for the targeted mid-year start of mine construction.

Itaoeste, a mineral research and development company active in São Paulo, Piauí and Bahia, recently announced the discovery of a thallium deposit at Barreiras in Bahia, Brazil. With this new addition, the company’s portfolio, comprising manganese, cobalt, iron, titanium, gold, copper and phosphate, among others, becomes even more attractive and places Brazil in the select group of thallium producers, until now limited to China and Kazakhstan.

Capstone Mining will acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of Far West Mining. Total transaction value will be Can$725 million. Capstone released details of the agreement in a press release on Sunday. On Monday morning, Capstone shares (TSE:CS) were down about 7% to $3.93 a share.

Associated Press reports that rescuers have been trying to reach a miner caught in a cave-in more than a mile underground. The roof of a tunnel at the silver mine in northern Idaho collapsed where the 53-year-old miner and his brother were working.

Clancy Yeates at WAtoday reports on the eye-popping salaries being received by mining and gas project workers in Western Australia as a result of a massive skills shortage.

At an offshore gas project, for example, a welder can pocket more than $300,000 a year, and some are seeking more than $400,000 in the next round of negotiations. On dry land, a worker who makes the beds or cleans at an isolated mining project can also expect a six-figure pay packet. As for the staff at McDonald's in the Pilbara's resources hub of Karratha, many of them are flown in and out by their employer because there aren't enough locals willing to do the job.