South Africa’s mining output at lowest in over 18 months

Platts reports that the global operations headquarters of US giant Peabody Energy will be relocated to Brisbane following the acquisition of Australia's Macarthur. Peabody raised $3.1 billion with the sale of senior notes on Monday and now owns 77.6% of Macarthur after ArcelorMittal pulled out of its joint $5 billion bid for the coking coal producer, just days after the target's top shareholder accepted the offer. Peabody is the world's largest private-sector coal company with 2010 sales of 246 million tons and nearly $7 billion in revenues.

The Guardian reports Scottish ministers are expected to order a public inquiry into plans to build the UK's only new coal-fired power station with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology after it suffered another serious setback. The latest delay follows unprecedented public opposition to the $4.8 billion project and will also damage proponents of CCS – where CO2 emissions are sequestered underground – and the so-called 'clean coal' lobby. Only two small coal CSS pilot projects exist worldwide: Schwarze Pumpe in Germany and Mountaineer Power Plant in West Virginia.

Stock in White Tiger Gold received another 6.6% bump on Tuesday, bringing its gains over the past week to 38.5% after the company announced it has secured a $15 million loan to ramp up production at its Lamaque project in Val d'Or, Quebec. White Tiger has experienced a flurry of corporate activity recently, installing new senior management and expanding the Lamaque project after sealing the takeover of Century Mining after months of delays due to action from unhappy minority shareholders.

SNC-Lavalin, a major engineering and construction firm, was awarded a $650 million oil sands contract to design and build a froth treatment plant near Fort McMurray. SNC-Lavalin says that the froth treatment plant will process 155,000 barrels of feedstock per day from the bitumen extraction plant in the form of bitumen froth. Engineering is already underway and construction is expected to start this February. The whole project should be completed by September 2014.

Mining and geoscience degrees pay well compared to other degrees, but they are not popular with students. The Wall Street Journal published an interactive chart that compares 173 possible college degrees looking at pay, earnings and current unemployment. While the natural resource sector is still doing well compared to the rest of the economy, it was not surprising that degrees related to the field showed the lowest unemployment and some of the highest earnings. Mining and mineral engineering degree has the third highest median earnings at $101,000 per year. The top paying was petroleum engineering at $127,000 per year. A degree in geological and geophysical engineering was in the top 25 of highest paid out of 173 possible degrees.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) will undertake the next phase of its five-year, $2.1 billion investment plan for its Baie-Comeau, Deschambault and Becancour smelters in Quebec. "The plan will move the Quebec smelters down the aluminum cost curve by 13 percentage points and contribute to Alcoa’s goal of achieving an overall 10-point improvement. The plan will also increase production capacity by 120,000 metric tons per year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said the company, which announced the approval on Monday. Alcoa estimates that 6,800 job-years will be sustained during the construction, and there will be $500 million of economic spin offs for the region.

QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Nov. 8, 2011) - Robex Resources inc. (TSX VENTURE:RBX)(FRANKFURT:RB4) is pleased to announce the excellent results of the feasibility study for its 100%-owned Nampala project located on the Mininko permit in Mali. The feasibility study was prepared by a consortium of prominent internationally renowned mining industry consultants lead by the engineering consulting firm Bumigeme assisted by engineering firm Met-Chem Canada (Met-Chem) and Mr. Jacques Marchand, independent engineer and qualified person (QP) for mineral resource estimation as defined by NI 43-101.

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hecla Mining Company (“Hecla”) (NYSE:HL) today announced third quarter net income of $55.8 million, or $0.20 per basic share, and earnings after adjustments applicable to common shareholders of $35.4 million or $0.13 per basic share.1 Third quarter silver production was 2.3 million ounces at a cash cost of $0.67 per ounce, net of by-products.2 “From this quarter, we are poised to grow production 50% over the next five years.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reports in a major policy victory for Australia's Gillard government's controversial carbon pricing scheme has passed parliament with Labor and the Australian Greens forcing the 18 so-called clean energy bills through the Senate. The laws – fiercely opposed by the country's mining sector which says it will lead to more than 20 mine closures and cost thousands of jobs – will force Australia's top 500 polluting companies to pay a tax of $24.50/tonne on carbon emissions from July 2012. On top of the carbon tax set to kick in mid-2012, Australian miners also have to contend with the new minerals resource rent tax set at an effective 22.5% rate on the so-called super-profits of the extractive industries.