A draft law approved by the Indian cabinet today directs miners to share their profits with people displaced by mining. The Wall Street Journal reports that the law, which has been pending for over two years, would have mining companies pay a royalty to create a fund to help for those displaced by mining and related industries. Coal producers would pay a 26% tax on profits. A regulator has also been set up to monitor illegal mining and prosecute violators, in a direct response to recent scandals in the states of Karnataka and Goa respecting the illegal export of iron ore.

Despite a rancourous dispute with local landowners over compensation and infrastructure upgrades and an appeal against a Papua New Guinea High Court ruling approving the dumping, Australia's Highlands Pacific on Friday said it is confident it could power on its already built mine next year after the intervention of a provincial governor. The wrangling over the $1.5 billion Ramu nickel and cobalt mine that over its life will dump 100 million tonnes of waste 400m offshore comes as the new PNG's government moves to quell concerns about proposed changes to mining rights that would potentially force projects worth billions of dollars into renegotiation.

Shareholders who held onto their Silvercorp Metals stock during the rollercoaster ride that started on September 2 when the company had to disclose fraud allegations and a massive short position in its stock, had something to show for their loyalty on Friday. Silvercorp, China's biggest silver miner, is now worth more than it was before the scam was exposed. You had to have nerves of steel though – volumes sky-rocketed, intra-day swings reached 22% and at one point shell-shocked owners were down a net 30%. And what is most remarkable: Silvercorp's gains are into the teeth of a silver price that has dropped 27% and a sector slaughtered along with it.

Minmetal Resources bought Anvil Mining for $1.3 billion, representing a 30% premium over Anvil Mining's average share price. The Anvil Board has unanimously approved the offer. Anvil's key asset is the Kinsevere mine, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Minmetal says its annual copper output will grow by 60,000 tonnes per year, an increase of 60%. The mine is expected to have about a 14 year life.

North Atlantic Potash Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of JSC Acron, today completed the sale of eight of its potash permitted areas to the Yancoal Canada Resources Co. Ltd. of China for $110 million. The sale allows North Atlantic Potash to focus its activity on key areas of interest within its remaining potash permits in Saskatchewan. The infusion of cash means the prioritization of advanced exploration and drilling required to delineate resources can now proceed through a systematic and strategic capital expenditure program. This sale relates to North Atlantic Potash's potash permit holdings located north of Regina (see map on website: permits KP 374, 377, 392, 406, 506, 399, 378, and 507).

Canada's mining output grew 2.9% in July, according to Statistics Canada which released its monthly gross domestic product numbers on Friday. The gains in the mining sector were attributable to more productivity after ". . . a period of production difficulties and maintenance work." Oil and gas production was down significantly, actually shrinking the output from the resource sector as a whole.

While the number of smokers in the United States has declined dramatically in recent years, miners have yet to kick the habit, says a federal study. Reuters reported Thursday on the report, which says that 30% of mining, hotel/motel and food services smoke. The study, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzed data from 2004 to 2010.

The Zimbabwe Guardian reports that at least 137 mining companies are risking losing their mining licences for refusing to comply with the country's new indigenization regulations. Affected companies include Anglo-American, Murowa Diamonds and Metallon Gold, according to the newspaper, which notes that 38 companies have complied. The government of Zimbabwe, the country with the largest platinum reserves outside number one producer South Africa, is demanding 51% of all foreign-owned mines operating in the country under its so-called indigenization laws.

In yet another buying spree, China is going after another African copper producing firm to acquire its abundant copper production. Minmetals Resources Ltd. of China is poised to buy Anvil Mining of Congo for $1.31 billion to secure copper mine production output in Africa amid the recent fall of the commodity's prices in the world market.