BHP Billiton said today it is reviewing its diamond business, which includes two large diamond mines in northern Canada, for a potential sale of all or parts of the business. The world's largest mining company said the review, expected to be completed by the end of January, will "examine whether a continued presence in the diamonds industry is consistent with BHP Billiton’s strategy." BHP owns 80% of the Ekati diamond mine in Canada's Northwest Territories. The other 20% is owned by geologists Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson (each has a 10% stake), who discovered the kimberlite pipes north of Lac de Gras in 1991. BHP also owns 51% of the Chidliak diamond exploration property on Baffin Island, with the other 49% owned by Peregrine Diamonds which has been exploring the 860,000-hectare property since 2006. Chidliak also contains copper, platinum group metals and lead-zinc.

Geekosystems reports on a new use for diamonds, providing truly unknowable random numbers that could serve the basis for secure communication. Random numbers are at the heart of modern communication, used for electronic commerce, wireless networks and bank transactions. The basis of secure communication is generating a random number, known as the key, that is shared by the recipient and the sender that is then used to scramble and unscramble the message that is sent between the two parties.

Century Iron Mines, an iron ore miner with projects in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, has reached a $120 million development deal with WISCO Resources, one of the third largest steel producer in China. WISCO Resources, which holds an approximate 25% interest in Century Iron, will invest $120 million in exchange for a 40% interest in three of Century Iron Mines' projects, Duncan Lake, Attikamagen and Sunny Lake. Funds will be used for exploration and development. WISCO Resources is a major subsidiaries of Wuhan Iron & Steel Corporation, headquartered in Wuhan in the province of Hubei in the People's Republic of China.

Australian landowner Ian Moore has taken to court his battle against coal company NuCoal, which wants access to drill three boreholes on his property north of Sydney for its proposed Doyle’s Creek mine. Moore says he opposed the operations because of the potential damage it could cause to underground water supplies and because he is legally blind and relies on a visual memory of his property to farm, which the drilling operations and bore holes could hinder. The beef farmer has been backed up by locals, who fear their property could be next.

Mining technology specialist Maptek unveiled the new I-Site 8400 laser scanner at Intergeo in Germany at the end of September.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is drafting new standards for the gold industry which will raise the entry barriers and it will force companies with daily gold processing capacity of less than 50 tons to shut down. Citing unidentified sources who attended a national gold mining conference, the industry ministry is drawing up a blueprint to better regulate gold miners, such as shutting mines with a daily gold processing capacity of below 100 tonnes and halting approvals for small ore processing companies. China, the world's largest bullion producer, currently has no limits on gold production and production is determined by the gold producers.

Barrick Gold says it will fight for the right to develop a gold project in Pakistan after a provincial government rejected its lease application earlier this month. Canadian Press reports that Tethyan Copper, a partnership between Canada-based Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) and Chile-based Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) has filed for international arbitration after the Balochistan government turned down its application without meeting with the companies.

An angry dispute over a proposed massive gold and copper mine in B.C.'s central Interior has set off duelling requests for court injunctions against the opponents.

It's not often that a junior mining company has star power in its corner. Black Iron (TSE:BKI) was busy fielding media calls Monday when the Toronto-based company announced it has retained celebrated CNN talk show host Larry King to help raise the profile of the company. Black Iron owns the Shymanivske project in Ukraine, an NI 43-101 compliant resource with 345 Mt measured and indicated resources grading 32% iron and 469 Mt of inferred resources grading 31% iron. The project is surrounded by five other operating mines including ArcelorMittal's iron ore complex.