Australian gold production has risen by 10 percent as new mines came into production and ancient operations revived. The nation’s gold output in the year to June 30 totalled 270 tonnes, up 24 tonnes on the previous financial year, according to Melbourne-based gold sector consultants Surbiton Associates

Two partners in the world's top aluminium producer, UC RUSAL , want to sell their stake to a third tycoon, Alisher Usmanov, owner of an iron ore miner and shareholder in Norilsk Nickel, Vedomosti reported on Friday.

Unscrupulous stock tout services have been pumping U.S. junior exploration companies by suggesting that Vancouver-based senior gold producer Goldcorp Inc. is about to buy them out at huge premiums to their prevailing market prices. The latest tout service to do this is Stock Castle, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidelity Ltd., which is said to be located in the British Virgin Islands.

Russia's government-owned diamond producer is reporting sales of rough and polished diamonds of $2.2 billion for the first half of 2011.

Oil sands miners in northern Alberta are pooling new knowledge to tackle an old foe: tailings. It's an unusual collaboration in an industry that is famously secretive for fear of losing an edge to competitors. The StarTribune reports on how companies participating in the Oil Sands Tailings Consortium — a 7-member group formed last December to share tailings research and technology — are spending over $90 million this year to address the common problem of how to dispose of wet tailings left behind when bitumen is extracted from oil sands.

Global miner BHP Billiton Ltd is looking to build a new rail line between some of its inland Australian coal mines and the coast in a move that could threaten dominant coal haulage firm QR National Ltd, a newspaper said.

Earthquake and disruptions related to the Pike River mining disaster slashed Solid Energy's profit by about $35 million. Also, its renewable energy businesses are not profitable and made a loss of $17m in the year to June 30. However, the state-owned coal miner's chairman, John Palmer, said the company produced a strong performance, with a 29 per cent increase in profit to $87.2m for the year to June 2011 from a 20 per cent lift in sales to $829m.

Sesa Goa, a Vedanta Group company, has stopped iron ore mining at Chitradurga in Karnataka. The Supreme Court on Friday had banned mining activities at Chitradurga and Tumkur districts. A similar ban on mining is already in force at Bellary in the State.

Four miners have been killed in an explosion that caved in part of a coal mine in the northern Mexico border state of Coahuila.