PNG autonomous region lifts mining ban, but excludes controversial Panguna

Hundreds of Grasberg employees protested in front of the PT Freeport Indonesia offices for two days, refusing to go to work until their employer could guarantee their safety.

Gunmen killed two workers on Thursday at Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc's giant gold mine in Indonesia's Papua, a province with a simmering separatist movement. A Freeport company spokesman said the shooting by unidentified gunmen, which left the car the two workers were in a blazing wreck, did not affect production at the world's largest gold mine.

Indian-focused miner Vedanta Plc (VED.L: Quote) saw record aluminium production in its fourth quarter and a 29 percent jump in refined zinc from its Indian operations, helping it take advantage of rising metal prices.

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has received the green signal to undertake mining activities in India, with the Orissa government granting a proposal for a fresh agreement on Thursday, April 7. State-run Orissa Minerals Development Company (OMDC), a part of the Bird Group of Companies under the Indian government's ministry of steel had been in discussions with the world's biggest mining company, Rio Tinto, for a joint venture in the state for some time now.

Mongolia's massive Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project is expected to begin production in August 2012, sooner than forecast, said Temuulen Ganzorig, Deputy Director of Erdenes MGL which partners with Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto in developing the site.

The key gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange scaled a 28-year high on Wednesday, driven by a rally to record peaks in the global gold market the day before and a weaker yen.

Both gold and silver are having a bull run in India, but silver is definitely having the better run of late and […]

Landslides triggered by heavy rain buried some houses and mining tunnels on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, killing at least three people and wounding two others, an army spokesman said on Thursday.

SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX:SGQ)(HK:1878) announced today that new, independent estimates prepared by Minarco-MineConsult ("MMC"), have updated coal resources and proven and probable mineral reserves contained at the company's Ovoot Tolgoi Complex, (comprised of the Ovoot Tolgoi Coal Mine and the Ovoot Tolgoi Underground Deposit). Independent estimates for coal resources have also been updated by MMC for the company's Soumber Deposit (comprised of the Soumber Field and the Biluut Field).