Most Australians have never heard her name, but WA's biggest diamond producer hopes Hong Kong celebrity Louisa So Yuk Wa will help launch it into one of the world's fastest-growing jewellery markets.

Canpotex Limited (Canpotex) today signed a contract with Sinofert Holdings Limited (Sinofert) to supply 630,000 tonnes of potash during the second half of calendar 2011 at price levels which reflect an approximate $70.00 per tonne increase above the first half China price level.

A Vancouver-based company is behind Mongolia’s first shipment of coal to the Republic of Buryatia in the Russian Federation. On Wednesday, Prophecy Coal (TSX-V:PCY) said it had shipped 650 tonnes, or 10 wagons worth, of coal from the company’s Ulaan Ovoo mine in Mongolia to an energy company in southeastern Russia.

SW Radio Africa reports the seemingly unilateral decision by the chairman of the international diamond trade watchdog to allow Zimbabwe to resume diamond exports has been rejected by among others the United States, Canada and Israel. Some members of the industry body want to keep a ban on exports of Zimbabwe's diamonds which could potentially be worth $2bn/year and include a vast stockpile built up during international sanctions, because of ongoing smuggling out of the rich Chiadzwa fields and reports of sustained human rights abuses there.

The Dar es Salaam Citizen reports Tanzanite One Mining, the dominant miner of the rare gemstone only found in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, has been ordered to increase the minimum wage for its employees from Sh180,000 to Sh350,000 per month (roughly US$215) as directed by the government. London-listed Tanzanite One has returned to profitability as prices for the gems which usually follow that of rough diamonds improve post-recession and is embarking on an expansion strategy, acquiring an Australian sapphire project earlier in June and reshuffling its board.

The new School of Mines at Laurentian University will be offering an executive MBA in mining, and hopes to develop specialized programs aimed at the industry's existing professionals, says Michael Lesher, director of mining initiatives, to the Sudbury Star.

"We've already been doing many of the things that mining schools have. We've got one of the top mineral exploration programs in the world, one of the best mining engineering programs in the world, and we do environmental restoration like nobody's business," he said. "We (also) want to develop programs in mining-related occupational health and safety and offer programs on aboriginal consultation as it relates to potential new mining communities up north."

BusinessDay reports on Wednesday Rio Tinto vowed not to abandon its uranium ambitions, despite conceding the recent crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant would slow growth in the uranium mining and nuclear power sectors for several years. Nuclear energy represents about 14% of global electricity and is set grow: 25 new plants are currently under construction in China and some 100 are on the drawing board to add to the 400 operating around the world. Uranium prices fell immediately following the Japan earthquake, but have since recovered to around US$55 per pound.

A proposed merger between the Canada-based TMX Group Inc. and the London Stock Exchange Group PLC is effectively dead. TMX said in a news release Wednesday that a majority of the votes cast by proxy before Wednesday’s deadline in fact supported the deal, but it was clear the two exchange operators wouldn't get the two-thirds required in a vote scheduled for Thursday. That vote has now been cancelled.

FoxBusiness.com quotes an analyst at an industry conference in Rio de Janeiro as saying on Tuesday Brazil's steel industry is "almost at crisis point," due to the country's strong currency and soaring raw-materials costs. Steelmakers have been hit by soaring prices for raw materials, including metallurgical coal and iron ore, prices for which reached record-high levels earlier this year. Some steelmakers have intensified their own iron-ore production activities in Brazil to shield themselves from high ore prices, but Brazil lacks sufficient coking coal resources.