Anglo American, horse breeders fight over mine expansion

In the never-ending quest to find really cool places to roller blade, film makers must have scored a coup when they were given permission to "bomb" down a defunct Polish salt mine. The high speed stunt went viral on YouTube with over 300,000 views since it was uploaded this summer.

Aecon Group Inc.’s Industrial West Division has been awarded two contracts worth $132 million for fabrication and module assembly work for an un-named oil sands operator in Fort McMurray, Alta. The Toronto-based construction and infrastructure development company said the contracts are for two large steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 20, 2011) - Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. (TSX VENTURE:QRE)(OTCQX:QREDF)(FRANKFURT:BR3) (http://www.quantumrareearth.com/) CEO Peter Dickie is calling for the U.S. to accelerate effor...

Boss Power Corp. has agreed to surrender to the Province of British Columbia all claims to its uranium exploration and mining rights at the Blizzard Uranium Deposit in the Kamloops-Kelowna region. The legal agreement supports the Province's goal of ensuring mining exploration is safe, sustainable and economically benefits British Columbians. In 2008, the Province announced that it would not support uranium exploration and development, and prohibited related permits being issued to any company in 2009. At that time, Boss Power Corp. held a pre-existing claim to uranium deposits in that area.

Brian Mason, the leader of the Alberta NDP party, is criticizing Premier-elect Alison Redford for failing to prevent 200 oilsands workers for losing their jobs to temporary foreign workers. According to a report in The Vancouver Sun, the workers, unionized insulators at Suncor's Firebag operation, were replaced by temporary foreign workers who are being paid less:

As hot as the blast furnaces required to produce steel, China's ever-expanding economy continues to fuel a seemingly insatiable demand for one of the building blocks of the modern world: iron ore. As a result, iron ore has once again been catapulted into the spotlight with prices surging to robust levels. With China representing approximately 63% of the market, and India's needs nipping at China's heels, iron ore supplies can't keep up with demand.

The markets hammered copper on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book survey that economic prospects in the United States appear to be dimming. The red metal — widely considered a barometer of future economic growth, slipped 4% on Wednesday — the biggest one-day plunge in three weeks as investors fled equity markets. The North American indexes were a sea of red, with the S&P 500 index down over 1% and the TSX Composite off 1.69%.

Newmont Mining announced on Wednesday protesters are now allowing access to the Yanacocha gold mine in northern Peru. A local paper reported protesters decided to remove roadblocks following an agreement with the mines ministry and regional authorities. Newmont on Monday was forced to shut down operations at Yanacocha, South America's largest gold mines with annual output of 1.5 million ounces. Newmont and local partner Buenaventura are also advancing a $4.8 billion project to expand the mine which would be the largest investment ever in Peru.

Rio Tinto said it expects its Simandou iron ore project in Guinea to begin producing by mid-2015. The company has approved $211 million in continuing studies and $1.12 billion to purchase equipment and fund early earthworks. The Australian reports Rio saying the $9.8-billion project is gaining momentum with construction works well underway: Work has started on the marine offload facility near the preferred port site of Ile Kabak, 50km southeast of the capital Conakry, which enables the introduction of heavy equipment for construction.