Crowflight Minerals has made an out of court settlement for $7.1 million, thus paving the way for a re-opening of Bucko Lake mine by early April, The Winnipeg Free Press reported today: Crowflight Minerals Inc. is expecting to announce plans to reopen production at the Bucko Lake nickel mine in Wabowden as early as next week.

The Alberta government will collect three times more revenue than previously under its revamped mine security program, which pledges to collect money for mine reclamation, The Edmonton Journal is reporting. But existing companies will also get about a 10-year break in payments under the new system, which is geared to collecting more money in the later stages of a mine's life than in the early stages.

As Japanese workers and scientists battle to prevent a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima plant, most Nunavut residents who showed up to a public forum Thursday night rejected the spectre of uranium mining in the northern Canadian territory. Many Nunavummiut who attended a uranium forum Thursday night said they do not want uranium mining in Nunavut, while some even attacked the territory's Inuit group for supporting uranium development.

Canadian gold and uranium producer First Uranium Corp (FIU.TO) said on Friday it has resumed underground operations at its Ezulwini gold mine in South Africa. A temporary work stoppage instruction was issued on March 12 by the South African Department of Mineral Resources, pending investigations after a worker died in fall of ground.

The University of Queensland (UQ) has developed a new technology to support plant growth at mine sites previously unable to support any vegetation due to heavy metal soil contamination.

With financial support from Xstrata Technology, MetalloTek will manage further development and commercialisation of the technology in partnership with industry stakeholders.

MetalloTek's lead researcher said the new technology had the potential to be a low-cost and effective tool for helping rehabilitate metal-contaminated mine sites.

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd submit draft merger proposal Tokyo (Reuters) - Nippon Steel Corp, the world's fourth-biggest steelmaker, and Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd submitted a draft proposal for their planned merger to Japan's

In July 2007, one year after the housing bubble peaked and five months before the beginning of the Great Recession, Citigroup CEO Chuck Prince talked to the Financial Times about the health of the housing market. "When the music stops," he said, "things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance."

Minera Andes (MAI.TO: Quote) said on Thursday it plans to spin out its Los Azules copper project in Argentina into a new publicly traded company. The Toronto-based exploration company said the move will let it unlock value from Los Azules and allow it to focus on developing its San Jose gold-copper project, which is located in the vicinity of Goldcorp's (G.TO: Quote) recently acquired Cerro Negro project in Argentina.

Australian mining firm Sundance Resources said on Thursday recent finds at its Mbalam iron ore project in Cameroon had more than doubled the amount of indicated resources in the area.