Vale, the second largest mining company, fell to the lowest in over six weeks today, after reporting its third consecutive drop in quarterly profit driven by declining iron-ore prices and output.

French software and consulting services group Dassault Systèmes (EPA:DSY) unveiled today its plans to take over Canadian mining software provider Gemcom, in a cash deal worth about $360 million.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX) announced today the sale of its entire 20% stake in Highland Gold Mining Limited (LON:HGM), the AIM-quoted Russian gold producer, at a price of 120 pence per share to undisclosed institutional investors.

Liberian ex-president, Charles Taylor, was convicted today of war crimes for arming Sierra Leone's rebels in return for blood diamonds during the 1991-2002 civil war by a United Nations-backed court.

Ecuador needs at least 300 mining engineers and geologists in the near future to be able to deliver on its recent mining contracts, but only about 40 such professionals graduate annually from six universities that offer those programs, according to the agency that regulates Ecuador’s mining industry.

Patrick Moore, a Greenpeace co-founder who earned his environmentalist stripes by protesting hydrogen bomb testing and famously confronted the Soviet whaling fleet off the coast of California while captaining a Zodiac, will address students at a workshop hosted by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

Lower ore grades at its flagship Red Lake Mine in Ontario did not prevent Goldcorp (TSX:G) from achieving a $479 million profit in the first quarter.

What gold bulls were waiting for did not materialize, but it could have been worse. Much worse.

Toronto-based Sherritt International had a rough quarter, revealing on Wednesday a 50% drop in earnings from $63 million to $32 million when measured against the same quarter of 2011.