MAPPED: Top 20 biggest gold mines

Iron ore price drops 2.2% as stockpiles in China surge to new record and worries over country's property market mounts.

Found by a junior miner working a surface outcrop in Western Australia.

Platinum output fell by nearly 40% as a consequence of a more than three-month strike over pay in the sector South Africa.

Under the agreement, the Papua New Guinea government paid Nautilus $7 million, which entitles it to a 15% stake in the project, with an option to increase it by another 15% in the next 12 months.

The new gold giant would have a market value of $33 billion, operations on five continents, and a gold output of well over 12 million ounces a year.

The mine has an initial annual production capacity of 35 million tonnes and is a key part of BHP's plans to lift capacity from its Pilbara operations to 220 million tonnes a year.

The Oakajee port and rail project has the potential to become one of the major suppliers of Australian iron ore to Asia.

At the moment about 90% of the world’s rare earths —used in a variety of industries including green technology, defence systems and consumer electronics— come from China.

Beijing's strategy to consolidate the domestic iron ore industry under six to eight large miners has been met with skepticism.