Is there a new golden age for copper coming to British Columbia?

Canada’s mining industry continues to rally from the recent global recession, with this year’s production currently exceeding that of 2010, reports government department Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

The U.S. State Department said Friday it expects to issue a final environmental assessment next month on TransCanada Corp's (TRP.TO) proposed $7 billion pipeline that would deliver crude from Canada's oil sands to refineries to Texas. The pipeline has been opposed by many lawmakers and environmentalists for greenhouse gas emissions associated with oil sands production and because the line would run across one of the world's largest aquifers.

Africa's biggest gold miner AngloGold Ashanti said on Friday it would acquire a 19.79 percent stake in Canadian gold and uranium producer First Uranium Corp for $30 million. AngloGold said it would buy the stake, which consists of 47 million shares and priced at $0.64 a share, from South Africa's Village Main Reef Gold Mining.

The Canadian government is set to spend Canadian $ 50 million per year ($ 53 million) on monitoring and controlling of air and water pollution from its oil sands projects in northern Alberta, in a bid to accelerate the US decision to allow a TransCanada crude oil pipeline transportation project to the Gulf Coast.

Canadian Orebodies Inc. (TSX VENTURE:CO) ("Orebodies") has started drilling on its Haig Inlet Iron Ore Project, located on the Belcher Islands, Nunavut, Canada.

Stocks of Canadian potash juniors Allana, Passport and Western Potash all showed double digit gains for the week to Thursday as the heavyweight producers all announce significant contract price gains and their export arm appears to run out of inventories altogether. This after Bloomberg quoted the CEO of Mosaic as saying the Canpotex "cupboard is bare" and that the sensitive issue of fertilizer deliveries to India's 55 million farmers is not being discussed at the moment.

YouTube user markdcatlin uploaded a film showing how workers milled and bagged asbestos in the 1960s. The film was shot at the Cassiar Asbestos Company's asbestos mine in British Columbia, Canada. The mine and mill started operations in 1953 and closed in 1992 when the company went bankrupt, taking the town of Cassiar with it.

Imperial Oil’s plan to truck huge pieces of oilsands mining equipment through Montana and into Alberta has hit a speed bump. Montana Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Ray J. Dayton issued a ruling Tuesday that prevents the state’s Department of Transportation from granting the permits required to transport the oversized loads.

OPTI Canada, a bankrupt oil sands producer, has agreed to sell itself to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, in a deal worth $2.1 billion, the company said on Wednesday. Cnooc, as the Chinese oil giant is known, has been an active deal maker as it seeks to feed China’s ravenous demand for energy.