Australia’s gold production may rise to record in 2018 – report

Copper and gold miner OZ Minerals will return up to $200 million to shareholders through an on-market buyback, as booming prices for its products continue to generate cash. Photo of copper concentrates being loaded, by OZ Minerals.

The Australian reports China-backed Citic Pacific's $US5.2 billion West Australian iron ore project has been hit with a $US900 million budget blowout in another sign of growing costs in the booming resource state. The cost increase is the second for Sino Iron – the largest magnetite iron ore project under development globally – whose first production target has been pushed back again.

Australian iron ore developer WPG Resources said on Friday it will bring forward its Buzzard direct shipping ore project at Hawks Nest in South Australia. Drilling at the site has already commenced so that the mine can operate in parallel to its flaghship Peculiar Knob project (pictured) growing output to 5 mtpa. WPG stock received a lift on the news and ended Friday's trading in Sydney up more than 4%, bringing its gains for the year to 24%.

Norilsk Nickel, world number one nickel and palladium producer and Russia's biggest miner, announced on Friday it is restarting operations at its Maggie Hays mine near Lake Johnston in West Australia. Norilsk mothballed Maggie Hays bought from BHP and the other Australian operations it acquired in 2007 two years later as the financial crisis cut demand. Stainless steel production accounts for around two-thirds of nickel consumption.

Local shares have closed lower, dragged down by losses in Australian mining giant BHP Billiton.The market also had a weak lead from overseas markets, after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke deflated investors' stimulus hopes.The All Ordinaries

BBC's Jeremy Clarkson, a car enthusiast who hosts the show Top Gear, ran a documentary on an underground mine in Kalgoorlie, Australia, and learned about the exceptional wear-and-tear exacted on the vehicles. "Here, 2,700 feet down there are machines that have never and will never see the light of day. In one mine there are 300 miles of roads and that means the only means to get about is in a car. They are used for getting men, machines and explosives to the face, and then getting the hell out," narrates Clarkson.

Gloucester Coal has completed two acquisitions designed to create a leading Australian coal miner worth about $2 billion. Gloucester said it had completed the purchase of Donaldson Coal Holdings, which owns three NSW coal mines, from Asian commodities trader Noble Group.

Industrial action at BHP Billiton Limited's (ASX:BHP) Queensland mines is heating up as workers fight for more job security and pay rises. According to Fairfax Media more than 400 BHP workers have started strikes at the global miner’s coking coal mines after failed talks between the company and its employees.

Rio Tinto has awarded $45 million in new railway signalling and communications contracts to international rail infrastructure group Ansaldo STS.