Ivanhoe Mines announces financial results and review of operations for the third quarter of 2011

Overall construction at Oyu Tolgoi continues to advance on budget and reached a 54.4% level of completion at the end of Q3'11. Key elements of the project, including the concentrator complex, primary crusher and tailings-thickening ponds, remain ahead of schedule. Total capital invested in the project to the end of Q3'11 was approximately $3.2 billion. Facilities required for first ore production in mid-2012 remain on schedule and commercial production is expected to commence in the first half of 2013.

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Australia Launches Initiative to Encourage Women in Mining

The Australia Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) has been formed to encourage more women to find a career for themselves in the mining industry. A series of strategies will be launched to increase retention of women, and attraction of women to the industry, reports Australian Mining.

[Australian Mines and Metals director Minna Knight says] "AWRA will build on many of the industry initiatives and networking groups already doing things for female resources workers, this project now gives us an opportunity to unite all these organisations under one banner and take a nationally co-ordinated approach." This announcement comes as the Women in Industry Conference in Sydney this week looked to address the under representation of women in these industries.

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Taseko Mines still in the running to build Prosperity Mine

Taseko Mines' hopes were kept alive when the Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent, ordered the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to set up a panel to examine the company's New Prosperity copper-gold mine. "The Minister of the Environment instructed the Agency to design a process that will thoroughly assess whether the proposal addresses the environmental effects identified in the environmental assessment of the original Prosperity project. He also directed the Agency to ensure that information obtained during the previous environmental assessment is used to the extent possible in order to ensure a timely decision," said the agency in a statement. The review, which will include public hearings, are supposed to be wrapped up in a year.

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BHP at the mercy of US politicians to break copper curse

Business Spectator reports Rio Tinto's Tom Albanese and BHP Billiton's Marius Kloppers find themselves caught up in a tough US political battle as partners on the Resolution Copper venture in Arizona. At the end of last month the Republican-controlled Congress approved a bill to make possible a land exchange clearing the way for what would be North America’s largest copper mine. But the world's two biggest mining groups now await approval in the Senate, a much tougher task. For BHP a go-ahead on Resolution Copper would mean it will at last have something to show for a disastrous acquisition it made more than 15 years ago.

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Decision expected today for Taseko Mine’s prosperity project

Taseko Mining should be hearing from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency on whether the revised Prosperity Mine proposal can go ahead. Taseko Mines (TSE:TKO) estimates its proposed New Prosperity copper-gold mine, to built in near Williams Lake in British Columbia, would generate $9.8 billion in tax revenues for the federal and BC government over the next 20 years. The Vancouver-based company is taking another run at developing the $1.5-billion project after the federal government rejected it last fall.

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