Vale posts $1.64B loss for quarter marred by deadly dam burst

The Washington Post reports a "stark collision of cultures" is taking place in the desert mountains of Mexico, where the Huichol Indians are trying to stop a Canadian company from starting a $100-million silver mine.

Japanese companies such as Samsung, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo are evaluating the recently opened option to tap into the lithium industry in Chile, local newspaper Diario Financiero published on Thursday.

Record annual earnings of more than $2 billion released today by key global copper producer Southern Copper Corp (NYSE:SCCO), were overshadowed by the company’s decision of pushing back the beginning of its operation at the $1 billion Tia Maria project until 2015.

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP), the world’s largest mining company, expects to increase production at its Escondida copper mine in Chile to over 1.3Mt/y in the 2015 financial year, said CEO Marius Kloppers yesterday in a webcast to discuss fiscal H1 results.

Newmont Mining, world number two gold producer, said on Wednesday it has options to spend its capital elsewhere to meet production targets if its $4.8 billion Conga project in Peru does not restart.

A Chilean civil court ordered world's largest copper producer Codelco to publish the agreement for a financing deal of up $6.75 billion with Japan's Mitsui & Co. (TYO:8031), reports the online version of local newspaper El Mercurio.

Chilean state giant Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, will have to strive this year to match record 2011 copper production of 1.735 million tonnes, said CEO Diego Hernandez to the El Mercurio newspaper's Sunday edition.

Peru's domestic molybdenum and iron ore production experienced strong growth last year even as the country's precious and base metals production declined.

A day after violent demonstrations forced the cancellation of the grand opening of its newly minted Independencia Mine in Paraguay, Latin American Minerals (CVE:LAT)(OTCQX:LATNF) announced that it began operations at its Pilot Plant facility, located at the Paso Yobai gold project.