Golden Minerals Co said it will buy Canada's ECU Silver Mining in a reverse merger for about C$302.5 million ($309.1 million) in stock and cash, to form a new silver mining company focused on Mexico and Argentina. Under the terms of the deal, ECU shareholders will get 0.05 common shares of Golden Minerals and about $0.000394 in cash for each share they hold.

Surging prices of rare earth elements, coupled with slashed export quotas from China, are creating ripples in the rare earths industry, including a call for the US government to start stockpiling the materials. Vancouver-based Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. (TSX-V:QRE; OTCQX:QREDF; FRANKFURT:BR3) issued a news release Friday calling on the U.S. to start stockpiling rare earths— voicing support for recent US legislation that directs the Department of Defense to set up an inventory of rare earth oxides, metals, alloys, and magnets for defense purposes.

Exotic materials are finding more and more uses, including a really expensive way to shave. Zafirro is taking orders for a $100,000 razor made with sapphire blades and a 99.95% iridium handle. Iridium is a member of the platinum group metals, and one of the least abundant materials on earth.

New training tools have been released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration to help miners understand their rights and responsibilities under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, MSHA reports.

"All miners, including supervisors and contractors, have the right to identify hazardous conditions and refuse unsafe work without fear of discrimination or retaliation," said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. "Ensuring that miners understand their rights has been a priority of mine since well before I was appointed to this job in 2009. We hope these tools will help give miners the confidence to exercise those rights."

The caribou population in the Athabasca Oil Sands area in Alberta, Canada could be extinct in 30 years due to human activity, according to new research. Wolves have been blamed for the dwindling caribou population in parts of Alberta, but research published in the June issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment says human activity related to oil production and the timber industry could be more important than wolves in the caribou population decline.

Former Arizona congressman Richard Renzi must face public corruption charges over allegations that he coerced a mining company into buying land from one of his former business partners, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday. Renzi was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002.

Zimbabwe has been given the green light to sell diamonds from its Marange diamond fields by the industry's leading certification system, but the decision did not have the backing of all members. Participants of the Kimberley Process, which aims to stop "conflict diamonds" entering the market, met this week in Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss the Marange diamond fields but remained divided over a final statement.

Dynacor Gold Mines Inc. (TSX:DNG) is pleased to provide a second quarter operations update. In the month of May, Dynacor produced from its custom milling plant a historic best of 4,183 ounces of gold (representing more than 50,000 ounces on an annualized rate). Furthermore, during Q1-2011 the company, using cash directly generated from operations, optimized the plant's yield at the current capacity of 180 tpd (tonnes per day). The expansion program, which included installation of an additional cyanidation tank and a 90 tpd ball mill, will facilitate a capacity increase from 180 tpd to just over 200 tpd during the 2nd part of 2011.

Western Copper Corporation (TSX:WRN)(NYSE Amex:WRN) announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved a proposal to undertake a spin-out transaction that would reorganize the business and capital structure of the company into three separate public companies to allow Western Copper to focus on the development of its flagship Casino copper/gold/silver/molybdenum project.