Zinc

A shuttered mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is attracting some unusual publicity, with persistent rumours that the owners are considering growing medical marijuana.

"The quality of this relationship with China's largest importer of copper concentrates provides further evidence that there is considerable interest in the high grade massive sulphides being found by the emerging seafloor resource production industry," said Nautilus CEO Stephen Rogers.

Social news site Reddit ran a vintage mining ad showing a happy miner extolling the virtues of lead.

Chile will not be able to keep mining for copper, gold and other minerals if the government does not address the country's pressing energy needs, a mining conference in Santiago heard this week.

South American Silver has inked a $16 million deal with Asian investors to go towards its exploration projects in Bolivia and Chile.

Chile's state-owned mining company Codelco, the world's largest copper producer London-based Anglo American (LSE: AAL) should try reaching a negotiated solution to the ongoing dispute about Codelco’s stake in Anglo’s Sur unit, said British ambassador to Chile, Jon Benjamin.

Copper prices will continue dipping but only until the middle of this year, at which point they should start rising again, according to the latest Thomson Reuters’ GFMS Copper Survey and members of the industry.

US-based Southern Copper and Australia's Oz Minerals are both looking to acquire assets in South America, according to media reports Wednesday.

Codelco is responsible for roughly 10% of global copper production and acts as a bellwether for the industry.