Gold prices could fall below $1,550, returning to record highs by the end of this year, Thomson Reuters GFMS, a top precious metals consultancy, said this morning.

Anglo American Plc (LON:AAL) will spend over US$ 2 billion this year at its Minas-Rio 5.8-billion ton iron ore project in Brazil, the world’s second-largest exporter of the steel-making ingredient.

The nine miners trapped in a high altitude underground copper mine in Peru since last Thursday are well and with their families, after they were freed this morning (12:00 GMT).

An undersea 8.6 earthquake struck Indonesia this morning at 04:38 ET, announced the U.S. Geological survey (USGS). The movement, which triggered a tsunami alert across the Indian Ocean, has forced all mining companies in Indonesia to halt their operations until further notice.

Instead of making solar cells more efficient, MIT researchers took another tack on how to get more power out of photovoltaic cells and found that arranging them in cubes or towers can increase power output ranging from double to 20 times.

MINING.com reported on how opponents and proponents of hydraulic fracturing were using videos and infographics to argue their case. Now a London jeweler, Ingle and Rhode, is taking on the Kimberely Process and using an infographic to explain why, according to the company, that the standard is not up to snuff.

Afghanistan is seeking aid from the Australian mining industry in the creation of a school of mines to help the recovering country exploit its vast natural resources, reports Chinamining.org.

[Afghanistan] Mines Minister Wahidullah Shahrani said, "Australia is a model for us". "The government of Australia has been very generous to help us with our technical capacity, give us scholarships for postgraduate programs in the mining area and we've also been sending some people to the Australian department of mines and petroleum," he told The Australian.

After discovering significant sources of oil, gas and coal in Mozambique, the government is calling for nationals living abroad to return to the country, most after being exiled during the civil war, reports Business Day.

The country is also expanding its skills-training programmes, while hundreds of Mozambican students are in China attending technical training programmes.

The Vancouver company earned a profit of $26.4 million on $133.5 million in revenues for the year, up 145%, after drilling an astonishing 585,900 meters for minerals and a further 444,400 meters for energy last year.