The 30% tax on iron ore and coal producers passed by the Australian government may raise the prices of those commodities but will also shrink margins of steelmakers, analysts say.

Gordon Brown's sale of 400 tons of gold in 1999 has cost the United Kingdom GBP11 billion, said the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, in his 2012 budget speech.

Coal mining in Appalachia has survived deadly explosions, the Great Depression and the country’s largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. The latest threat is booming shale-gas production.

BBC News reports on new technology used for mining copper in Chile. Biosigma, a joint venture between Codelco and Nippon Metals and Mining, is experimenting with microbes that break down copper at higher recovery rates and reduce operating costs:

Australia's resources and energy commodity export earnings will continue to grow over the medium term to reach a record $225 billion in 2016-17, said today the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE).

Suppliers to mining companies can now obtain for free the USON Pressure Decay Leak Test Calculator-- the first in a family of automated USON NDT Test Calculators – to generate nearly instantaneous answers to “What If” modeling of pressure decay leak testing variables and exact returns-on-investment from new 8-sensor concurrent leak testing technology.

It’s Ecuador and Colombia next for Chilean copper giant Codelco, as the company proceeds with plans to become more international by exploring mining opportunities in neighbouring countries.

President Barack Obama will announce tomorrow a fast tracking of the approval of the southern half of TransCanada's (TSX, NYSE: TRP) Keystone XL oil pipeline, CNN reports.

Rubicon Minerals Corporation (RMX:TSX | RBY:NYSE-AMEX) ("Rubicon") is pleased to announce that the amendments to the Permit to Take Water, the Industrial Sewage Certificate of Approval and the Air Certificate of Approval, pertaining to its 100% owned Phoenix Gold Project located in the heart of the prolific Red Lake Gold district, have been accepted and approved by the Ontario Ministry of Environment.