About 20% of Chile’s largest copper mines closed or reconverted by 2025

The Australia Coal Association makes a pitch for coal with a recent video on YouTube showing how important the industry is to Australia and the country's ecocomy. Coal has been under pressure from the left-leaning Australian Labor Party. The government recently introduced a carbon tax set to kick in 2012. The coal industry claims that the tax will hurt the industry and shut down mining operations.

Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX:EDR)(NYSE:EXK)(FRANKFURT:EJD)announced today that silver and gold production from the Company's two operating silver mines in Mexico, the Guanacevi Mine in Durango State and the Guanajuato Mine in Guanajuato State, continued to rise year-on-year in the Third Quarter, 2011. Silver production was up 8% to 858,738 ounces (oz) and gold production was up 7% to 4,926 oz compared to the Third Quarter, 2010. Revenues jumped 93% for the quarter to US$38.8 million thanks to both higher silver and gold production and higher realized metal prices.

World energy consumption is set to grow 53% by 2035 and most of that energy will be coming from fossil fuels, according to a study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. While energy consumption will grow slowly in the U.S. and Europe, countries like China and India that are growing their industrial base will be gobbling up more and more energy.

Agnico Eagle's production (NYSE:AEM) totaled 265,978 ounces, an increase of approximately 11% over the second quarter 2011 level of 239,328 ounces due to improved performance at Kittila Mine and Meadowbank Mine. "For the first nine months of 2011, the Company produced a record 757,668 ounces of gold. This compares with the previous nine month record set in the first nine months of 2010 when gold production was 731,138 ounces," said the company in a news release. Last month Agnico Eagle acquired Grayd Resources for $275 million.

Edmonton Journal reports that regional planning directors are considering LRT, light rail transport, to solve traffic jams along Highway 63. As more workers pour up north to work on the oil sands projects, workers are becoming snarled in traffic since the roads lack capacity. "[Officials] say something needs to be done about mobility issues that could impede the region's economic growth, with some estimates indicating an hour of traffic congestion costs oil companies $20,000 to $50,000."

A mining contractor at Aquarius Platinum's Everest Mine is on strike. The strike has been called by the Association of Mining and Construction Unions, which is demanding full organizational rights under the South African Labour Relations Act. The contractors on strike are employees of Murray & Roberts Cementation. "This is a technical dispute between AMCU and MRC, and no demands are being made by AMCU of Aquarius or its subsidiaries," said Aquarius Platinum (ASX:AQP) in a dispute.

Crystallex International Corporation (TSX:KRY)(OTCQB:CRYXF) ("Crystallex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a wholly-owned subsidiary (the "Issuer") proposes to complete a best efforts private placement offering (the "Offering") of up to 120,000 units (the "Units") at a price of US$1,000 per Unit for aggregate proceeds of up to US$120 million. Each Unit will consist of one face value US$1,000 principal amount senior secured note (the "Notes") bearing simple interest at a rate per annum to be determined payable on maturity or redemption and one contingent value right (the "CVRs").

Australia on Monday gave environmental approval for BHP Billiton to expand its Olympic Dam mine but set more than 100 environmental conditions on the uranium, copper and gold project. The $30 billion expansion of the existing Olympic Dam underground operation will create an adjacent open pit mine that would be the worlds biggest. An idea of the olympian effort required to construct the mine and the size of the undertaking is clear from the fact that trucks will haul overburden 24/7 for five to six years just to reach the ore body. The combined operations would mine 72 Mt ore per year and would produce 750,000 tonnes refined copper, 19,000 tonnes uranium oxide, 800,000 gold ounces and 2.9 Moz of silver per year.

Venturebeat reports De Beers has set up investment offices in Silicon Valley to find and fund synthetic diamond startups through the investment arm of a subsidiary Element Six. Element Six Ventures has already funded a number of startups that use synthetic diamonds in the semiconductor industry and other manufacturing processes. Its new office will be in a Santa Clara, Calif. location that will also house a new production site. Synthetic diamond is a surprisingly mature business – the first synthesis of synthetic diamond was achieved by a high pressure, high temperature process in 1953 and 7 years later these processes were commercialized and volume manufacturing started in South Africa in 1960.