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Adelaide Now reports BHP Billiton wants to "future-proof" its massive Olympic Dam project, including using driverless haulage trucks and this week put out a recruitment ad for an executive to oversee the high-tech initiative. The system would mean operators can be in a control room on the site or even in the comfort of a city office hundreds of kilometres away. BHP Billiton is in the final stages of the approval process for the $30 billion expansion of its existing underground operation at Olympic Dam to create a new open pit mine that would be the worlds biggest – trucks will haul overburden 24/7 for five to six years just to reach the ore body. The combined operations would mine 72 Mt ore per year and would produce 750,000 tonnes refined copper, 19,000 tonnes uranium oxide, 800,000 gold ounces and 2.9 Moz of silver per year.

Research firm Metals Economics Group reports gold continues to be top exploration target accounting for more than 50% of global exploration of non-ferrous metals for the second consecutive year in 2011. Latin America is set continue to be the industry's favorite regional exploration destination in 2011, while Canada will remain the top overall country. Copper will account for roughly a fifth of 2011 nonferrous exploration budgets that is expected to exceed US$17 billion for expenditures related to precious and base metals, diamonds, uranium, and some industrial minerals. It represents an increase of about 50% from the 2010 total and a new all time high.

New economic numbers from India, the latest forecasts for the country's voracious appetite for gold, iron ore and in particular coal and its plans for a sovereign wealth fund to look at mining deals abroad mean that the GVK-Rinehart tie-up could be the first of many.

The Daily Mercury reports Rio Tinto executive director Sam Walsh says the mining industry has to live with the new resources tax as the best deal that could be done with the current government. The final tax rate had been reduced from 40% to an effective 22.5% rate in the minerals resource rent tax (MRRT), he told the meeting organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia. At a breakfast meeting in Perth on Tuesday, Mr Walsh defended his company's role in closing the tax deal, saying junior miners left out of final negotiations now have a chance to have their concerns heard. On top of the MMRT, Australian miners also have to contend with a proposed carbon tax set to kick in mid-2012.

Speaking in Arequipa at Peru's premier mining conference industry executives said on Friday a drive by Peru's leftist president to raise mining royalties should not derail multibillion-dollar investments, but added that the viability of smaller, less efficient operations will be affected. Peru's Buenaventura and US-based Newmont said their $4.8 billion Conga mine, the most expensive mine in Peru's history, was on track to come on line in 2014 while others including Barrick Gold, Xstrata, Anglo American and Gold Fields reiterated their commitment to the country.

Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) plans to sell "a lot" of the output from the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in Mongolia to China, and is in discussions with smelters in China, Rio Tinto's U.S. Copper Chief Financial Officer said Friday at an industry event."Talks are still underway, and there's no definite plan right now," Kay Priestly told a Metal Bulletin conference in China. With the Oyu Tolgoi mine strategically located close to China where demand is high, so "it's certainly our plan to transport a lot of the products to China," Priestly added.

Preliminary estimates from Metals Economics Group’s (MEG) Corporate Exploration Strategies (CES) study indicate that 2011 nonferrous exploration budgets will exceed $17 billion for expenditures related to precious and base metals, diamonds, uranium, and some industrial minerals.

Anvil Mining (TSE:AVM), a copper miner based in the central Africa, tamped down speculation that it may be acquired for $1 billion. Australian Finance Review reported that it was in serious discussion with a Chinese firm about some sort of business tie up. Last month, Anvil announced that it started a strategic review process and the company had formed a special transaction committee to ". . . review and consider the value maximizing alternatives available to the Corporation. BMO Capital Markets has been retained to assist in this regard," said the company in a statement.

For the second time this year workers have downed tools at one of the world's largest copper and gold mines. The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting thousands of workers at Freeport-McMoran's gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesia have begun a month-long strike over a wage dispute: Union spokesman Juli Parorongan said roughly 90 per cent of the Papua mine's 12,000 workers were taking part in the action, which began on Thursday.