Forget about precious metals, oil or pork bellies: For commodities traders, iron ore is the new Shangri-La.

A forest of fossils that is being compared to a "vegetational Pompeii" is under threat from coal mining, says a story in China Daily.

Lucara Diamond Corp. (TSX:LUC,NASDAQ:LUC) announced production results for the quarter ended March 2012.

The government of Zimbabwe said the new mining licence fees gazetted in January will not be reversed despite calls by the mining industry for the levies to be reduced.

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. ("Northern Dynasty" or the "Company") (TSX: NDM; NYSE Amex: NAK) announces that the Board of Directors of Pebble Mines Corp., the general partner of the Pebble Limited Partnership (the "Pebble Partnership" or "PLP") has approved a budget of approximately US $107 million to advance the Pebble Project in 2012, with the objective of readying PLP to initiate permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) toward the end of the year.

Photographers were allowed to look today at some of the most famous diamonds in the world to go on public display at the end of June, as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Carmen Bernedo, a senior civil engineer with MWH, a global leader of the wet infrastructure sector, was recently honoured with two industry awards– one for outstanding Colorado woman in engineering by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), and the other for earning a diplomate, water resources engineer certificate (D.WRE) from the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE). She is one of only 600 engineers worldwide who has qualified for the D.WRE credential.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE:BHP) is betting on the iron ore market as one of the forces to drive the mining industry in the next decade, especially as developing nations such as China move from investment-led economic growth to consumption-led economic growth.

Sinopec Group, China’s second biggest oil and gas producer, announced it has launched its first shale gas project, expecting to produce 300 to 500 million cubic metres a year by the end of 2012, said the conglomerate on Tuesday.