Miner plans on flying Mexico gold to Canada to duck US tariffs

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating a Calgary-based company over allegations of bribery in Mexico. The Mounties are checking whether Blackfire Exploration Ltd. made monthly payments to a local mayor to prevent protesters from interrupting the mine's operation, says the CBC:

MarketWatch reports Mexico has overtaken Peru as the world's top silver producer as output in the Andean nation has seen a sharp decline during the first six months of 2011. In the January-to-June period, Mexico turned out 1.88 million kilograms (60.4 million ounces), compared to 1.63 million kilograms in Peru, according to government figures.

Reuters reports that force majeure was lifted at Escondida on Friday at Escondida, the world's largest copper mine. The Chilean mine, whose majority owner is BHP Billiton, was under force majeure on July 27 after a union strike. Force majeure is a clause in legal contracts that frees a party from meeting its obligations due to events beyond its control, such as strike or civil unrest or extreme weather.

VANCOUVER, CANADA--(Marketwire - Aug. 31, 2011) - Lithium One Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:LI), is pleased to report the delineation of a new zone (the "North Basin") containing thick halite sequences hosting high grade lithium and potassium brine at the Sal de Vida Project at Salar del Hombre Muerto, Argentina. The five core holes in this new discovery report grades averaging 852 mg/L lithium and 10,181 mg/L potassium within the first 55 metres from surface, with no cut-offs applied. The 50 km² North Basin is adjacent to, but geologically separated from, the 170 km² Central Basin where the Company has previously defined an inferred resource¹ of 5.4 million tonnes Lithium Carbonate equivalent and 21 million tonnes potassium chloride equivalent (1,470M m³ at 695 mg/L Li and 7590 mg/L K).

Potassio do Brasil, partly owned by Canadian merchant bank Forbes and Manhattan, is seeking to renew negotiations with Brazil's government over rights to a potash reserve in the Amazon currently held by state oil company Petrobras adjacent to what it called a 'world class' potash discovery last week. The Potassio do Brasil mine will take $4 billion to develop and follows news earlier this month from Toronto-listed Verde Potash which announced a 1.1 billion tonne resource at its Amazon Cerrado Verde project that is suitable for open pit mining. The discoveries come as Brazil readies a new mining royalty regime – in certain instances doubling the rate – which would be managed by government decree. Mining investment in the world's fifth largest economy is also predicted to accelerate to $68.5 billion through 2015.

MOUNT PEARL, NEWFOUNDLAND--(Marketwire - Aug. 30, 2011) - Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. ("Cornerstone") (TSX VENTURE:CGP) (FRANKFURT:GWN) (BERLIN:GWN) (PINK SHEETS:CTNXF) announced today preliminary results for the ongoing exploration program at the La Fortuna copper-silver project located in the Valparaíso Region of central Chile, approximately 100 km north of Santiago.

Peru's government and miners are discussing the implementation of at least two different rate scales for a new royalty payment system

Four miners were killed when a coal mine collapsed in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila on Friday, a senior government official said. Labor Minister Javier Lozano said in a Twitter message the fourth body was recovered late on Friday and an extraordinary inspection of the mine was underway.

Four miners have been killed in an explosion that caved in part of a coal mine in the northern Mexico border state of Coahuila.