More trouble is looming on the horizon for First Quantum Minerals and other companies operating in Zambia.

Ecuador’s government and Canada’s Kinross Gold could sign an agreement in June to develop the long-delayed “Fruta del Norte” gold project, the country’s largest mine, reports local newspaper El Telégrafo.

("Allana" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has intersected two zones of strong potash mineralization in Holes DK-11-32, DK-11-33, and DK-11-34 ("Holes 32, 33,and 34"). All Holes are located southeast of the Musley Deposit, an area targeted to test the extension of the Sylvinite Zone into a gap in the previous drilling pattern.

The Toronto Stock Exchange opened this morning moderately higher as commodity prices increased driven mainly by traders’ hopes of a U.S. housing market in recovery mode.

The Australian Senate approved today a mining legislation that imposes a 30% tax on coal and iron ore miners, allowing the government to take a larger part of profits from a mining boom pushed by Chinese and Indian demand for raw materials.

Teck Resources LimitedLimited ("Teck", TSX: TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK) and the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center of the Ministry of Agriculture of China (NATESC) announced today that they have signed an agreement to demonstrate and promote zinc fertilizer use in China.

Vale SA (VALE3), Brazil’s biggest exporter, has shut a railroad that transports production from the world’s largest iron ore mine after a construction accident.

Rex Murphy takes his Sunday morning talk show, CBC Radio’s Cross Country Checkup, to Fort McMurray.

Thorium, a touted alternative to uranium energy, may get an entirely different push to broader usage: scientist trying to come up with a technology that could power a future moon colony.