Zinc

Draft legislation, a copy of which was seen by the Financial Times on Wednesday, gave "the clearest sign yet that Mongolia is uncomfortable with the large foreign investments that have so far been a mainstay of economic growth."

A lower copper price and a strike at its Kansanshi mine in Zambia has bit into the bottom line at Africa-focused base metals producer First Quantum Minerals.

EuroNews reports on a trend becoming more common in European metal mines: the high cost of extraction amid depleted resources.

BHP Billiton addressed shareholder concerns about its ambitious investment plans in four mega-projects on Wednesday saying it will match capital expenditures closely with cash flows and stagger the project pipeline.

There is no such thing as an average miner.  There is no such thing as an average salary.  Yet we can get some idea of how well mining people are paid by looking at the average salaries for 2011 on US metal mines recently published CostMine.

Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) increased its quarterly dividend by 33%, as the company announced Wednesday a 3% increase in its first-quarter profit.

Following the resignation of inveterate dealmaker and founder Robert Friedland a fortnight ago, Rio Tinto insiders and Arthur Andersen alumni have been appointed to lead Ivanhoe.

There are conventionally 2,080 work hours in a year. Thus somebody earning a wage of $20 an hour gets the equivalent of a salary of about $42,000. Considering the mine manager makes about $100,000 to $150,000 a year, it is interesting to take a look at actual wages paid to miners in the United States in 2011.

58% of the world’s refined copper is now stockpiled in China, an increase of 40% in just six months. Traders say the country may hold as much as three quarters of the “spare” stock that is actually available to the market.