Last week John Chadwick visited the Stillwater palladium/platinum mine near Nye, Montana, USA. Here two Kiruna Electric trucks from GIA/ABB were recently commissioned. The trucks are hauling from lower level production on a dedicated ramp, below the shaft bottom. Shaft deepening and a conveyor ramp were considered as alternatives, but this trolley assisted truck option was chosen as the best for this mine.

On Tuesday Zambia's Finance Minister mocked Zimbabwe and South Africa for planning to forcibly raise government stakes in foreign mines, saying "the Zambian miner in 1970s was a happier miner than a miner during the period of state ownership of the mines.” Under Zimbabwe's on-again off-again indigenization policy mining companies were granted until the beginning of June to submit proposals about transferring majority ownership to locals while there are growing calls within the ruling party in South Africa to move ahead with nationalization as called for in the country's Freedom Charter.

According to local paper the Duluth News Tribune, P&H Mining Equipment is to close its main Minnesota Iron Range offices in Mountain Iron, Buhl and Hibbing after construction of a new $16 million, 82,000 ft2 building off US Highway 53 on the town of Virginia’s north side. Read more

Caterpillar has announced plans to significantly increase its manufacturing capabilities and capacity for hydraulic excavators at a new facility in Victoria,Texas. Read more

China's exports of rare earth ores, metals and compounds, fell 11% in May compared to April and 8.8% to 23,742 metric tons in the first five months of the year compared to last year. At the same time the value of exports surged 242% to $1.6 billion, customs data supplied by Hong Kong-based Economic Information & Agency showed Tuesday. China in recent months closed or consolidated more than 35 rare earth mines and cut export quotas sparking concerns in the US and other industrial nations about access to supplies and causing a frenzy of exploration and development activity.

London-listed Gem Diamonds said in a statement on Monday that it will drill four boreholes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in partnership with VOX United, a non-governmental organisation to provide the bushmen or Basarwa living in the reserve with water. The community is locked in a bitter battle with the Botswana government which accuses them of depleting the park's natural resources, while the Basarwa say that the government is violating their rights by trying to relocate them and that their impact on the environment is negligible.

The mining industry in Canada is now facing a shortage of skilled labour, and the severity could be as severe as in was before the economic downturn in 2008, Mining Weekly reports.

Record prices for many commodities, coupled with cheap and more easily available finance, mean that activity in the mining sector is roaring and skilled mining engineers, geologists, technicians and other key people are again hot commodities and companies are having to pay up to get hold of them.

In response to the recent law passed by the Mongolian government limiting the number of foreign workers used in Mongolian mining projects, mining companies have begun training Mongolians for driving positions at local mines, UB Post reports.

41 companies of Umnugobi, Dornogobi provinces took part in research that studied the number of workers needed and salary proposals. These companies employ 1,189 Mongolian and 1,500 Chinese drivers at the moment. However, they reported that with the new law they will need 1500 additional Mongolian drivers. Employers pay 800,000MNT as a salary with potential for employees to earn bonuses.

Investors piled into Ringbolt Ventures on Tuesday after the company announced that it has commenced drilling on its Lisbon Valley Potash Project in the Paradox Basin in Utah. By mid-day the small-cap exploration company was trading up 15% on Toronto's venture exchange on above average volumes. Potash was first discovered in the Paradox Basin in an oil and gas well in 1924 and in 1962, Superior Oil Company drilled the first potash at the crest of the Lisbon Valley anticline. Since 1964, potash and by product salt have been produced from the nearby Cane Creek mine, now owned by Intrepid Potash.