Miners need to invest $150bn to avoid looming supply shortages

Zimbabwe's central bank threatened to freeze Impala Platinum's local account and ordered local banks to halt managing any of the company’s exports because it has “failed to comply with an order to bank locally,” state-controlled newspaper The Herald reports.

Zimbabwean miner RioZim Limited is negotiating with global giant Rio Tinto in an attempt to acquire the now jointly own Murowa diamond mine in the in south central region of the country.

Students in the mining and nuclear engineering department at Missouri University of Science and Technology will soon gain valuable hands-on training in heavy mining machinery, surface mining methods and materials handling systems in Missouri S&T’s new Virtual Surface Mining Facility.

Xstrata Plc (LON:XTA), the fourth largest copper producer in the world, said it is analyzing political risks in Argentina, where the company has two major copper projects on the go with an estimated investment of $5.5 billion.

The world's top copper producer, Chile's Codelco, said on Wednesday its output fell 10 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 373,000 tonnes, but said it was on target to produce 1.708 million tonnes this year.

With a total investment of $406 million, Canadian based mining exploration company Tahoe Resources (NYSE:TAHO), through its subsidiary Minera San Rafael SA, could become one of the largest silver producers in the world thanks to its El Escobal project in southeastern Guatemala, approximately 70 kilometres from Guatemala City.

World number two gold producer, Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM), will spend $440 million on the controversial Conga mine project in Peru over the next 18 months, about two-thirds less than the $1.5 billion initially budgeted.

Global gold production is at an all-time high, according to a new report from the US Geological Survey. In this exclusive interview the Survey's Mineral Commodities Specialist Micheal George pinpoints where the gold is coming from and what trends can be expected in the coming years.

Asian Mineral Resources' board is recommending that the shareholders turn down Norilsk Nickel's $22.3 million offer or 11 cents a share.