The world's top copper mine, Chile's Escondida, refused to improve a bonus to defuse a 13-day strike on Wednesday, presenting an offer the union said fell short, but that workers would vote on. Union leaders said the proposed bonus worth $5,760 failed to meet the expectations of workers who rejected the same offer from mine owner BHP Billiton on Friday.

Gabriel Resources announced on Wednesday that it has accumulated over $175 million in cash and equivalents to move ahead its gold mining project in Transylvania in an area where tunnels used by Roman miners during the first century still exists. It has been more than a decade since Gabriel Resources first obtained the Rosia Montana concession, believed the be one of the richest in Europe, and the Canadian firm has faced protests since receiving an archaeological discharge certificate from Bucharest authorities in July. More recently the site was a Romanian state-owned open pit operation (pictured) and Gabriel Resources has set aside $35 million for what it calls "rescue archaeology" .

Bloomberg reports Antofagasta Plc, the copper giant controlled by Chile’s Luksic family, on Wednesday said second-quarter output increased 17% boosted by additional ore from the Esperanza mine in Chile that began shipping at the start of the year. Antofagasta is actively diversifying outside of its home base and is awaiting the outcome of a joint bid for a mine in Pakistan that has the potential to add 200,000 tonnes of copper annually.

A new coal terminal proposed for Gladstone port's Wiggins Island in Queensland has met with delays for the third time this year, as the project's 16 coal company shareholders including Cockatoo Coal, Yancoal and Xstrata have still to raise all of the capital for the project. Costs for the first stage of the Wiggins Island coal terminal have escalated to A$3.7 billion ($3.9 billion) from A$2 billion in October 2010, a spokesman for the coal industry consortium that is backing the terminal said Wednesday.

Up 103% since the start of the year stock in Allana Potash Corp, advancing a project in Ethiopia was trading steady on Thursday after the company announced it had intersected strong potash mineralization in an area not previously drilled at its 160 square km Dallol project in Ethopia. Listed on the TSX-Venture exchange Allana's East Africa project has the backing of the World Bank and most the latest announcement comes on the heels of a string of discoveries at its land position in Dalol, part of the Danakil Depression (pictured).

Strong deep basin activity drove a hike in second quarter production for Paramount Resources Ltd., which reported Wednesday that average sales volumes increased 30 per cent in the period. The Calgary-based intermediate producer’s acquisition of ProspEx Resources Ltd. on May 31, along with new wells, meant a growth of 56 per cent in its sales volumes for the Kaybob division of the company.

Investors who were nervous about the looming debt ceiling showdown poured $3.5 billion in July into exchange-traded funds that own gold, according to fund tracking website IndexUniverse.com. The biggest gold ETF, the $65 billion SPDR Gold Trust managed by State Street, added $2.9 billion of net inflow, IndexUniverse said in its monthly report. BlackRock's $8 billion iShares Gold Trust took in $632 million.

Bloomberg reports demand for diamond jewelry in India may slow as a surge in prices discourages buyers. Polished diamond prices, which jumped about 60 percent to 70 percent in the last six months, may gain further in the next few months, said Sandeep Kulhalli, vice president, retail and marketing at Tanishq, the jewelry retail chain owned by Titan. The company is India’s biggest retailer of gold jewelry.

With not enough new engineers and tradesmen, and a high retirement rate, BC's mining industry is facing a severe shortage of skilled labour, say mine managers and industry reps, Ash-Cache-Journal reports.

It’s a situation that is going to worsen in the years ahead if something isn’t done to raise some interest in the career opportunities right across the board and creating attractive nearby communities in which workers will want to live and raise their families.