Integra Gold (CVE:ICG) was up 20% to 36 cents a share after the company announcing a 40% increase to its Lamaque resource. The company announced the findings in a consultant's report, the Estimate of Resources and Modeling of the Triangle Sector, for the Lamaque Gold Project, located in Val d'Or, Quebec.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 16, 2011) - Solitaire Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:SLT) (Solitaire) is pleased to announce that the company has signed an option to acquire a 100% interest in a Platinum-Group Element (PGE) property north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Previous exploration has located 14 mineral occurrences on the property with analytical results up to 2.2 grams per tonne of total precious metals ("TPM") or platinum + palladium + gold. A diamond drilling program is planned to test five conductors defined by a 2010 airborne VTEM® survey.

BHP Billiton approved today a US$822 million (BHP Billiton share US$698 million) investment for the development of its Orebody 24 mine, located approximately 10 kilometres north-east of Newman, Western Australia. Orebody 24 is a sustaining mine to maintain iron ore production output from the Newman Joint Venture operations. The new Orebody 24 mine will have a capacity of 17 million tonnes per annum (100 per cent basis) and will include the construction of an ore crushing plant, train loadout facility, rail spur and other associated support facilities. Initial mining from Orebody 24 will start in the second half of calendar year 2012.

Alberta is poised to become a major player in Canadian mining, says The Mining Association of Canada. The Edmonton Sun reports that half of the country's $140 billion in mining activity over the next five years will be centred in Alberta, with 12 projects slated for development by 2016:

Pro-and anti-mining forces are clashing once again over a proposed copper-gold mine in northern BC. On Monday Taseko Mines, the proponent of the New Prosperity mining project, said it has started legal action against people it alleges have obstructed preparations at the minesite. In response, the Tsilhqot’in Nation filed an injunction against the company "to halt its plans for extensive road-building, drilling, excavation of test pits, and timber clearing in support of its unprecedented and controversial resubmitted bid for approval of its soundly rejected Prosperity Mine project," the Tsilhqot’in, which represents six First Nations, stated in a press release.

BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) says it plans to spend about $4.5 billion on developing shale gas assets in 2012. Earlier this year, BHP, the world's largest mining company, spent nearly $17 billion buying Petrohawk Energy and Chesapeake Energy with the aim of doubling petroleum production over the next five years. The Financial Post reports: “This is going to be a gamechanger around the world and for BHP Billiton not to be part of it would be irresponsible,” BHP petroleum chief executive Michael Yeager said in slides prepared for an investor presentation to allay concerns about the company’s push into shale gas. BHP said it plans to spend around $5.5 billion a year by 2015, about a billion more than previous estimates, and around $6.5 billion a year in 2020 on U.S. shale.

Yesterday's announcement by Australian PM Julia Gillard to consider lifting the ban on uranium sales to India is raising eyebrows at one of the country's largest iron ore producers. News.com.au reports Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) chief executive Neville Power questioning whether the proposed sales would benefit BHP's Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia: "You would wonder," Power said yesterday at Fortescue's Port Headlands wharf in Western Australia.

In an article published on BNWnews.ca focussing on potash industry developments in the wake of continuing high prices and record food demand, Western Potash, with arguably the world’s most advanced ‘independent’ potash project, is highlighted as a company getting a lot of attention from potential state-funded buyers.

The Alberta oilsands and Bakken oil fields in North Dakota put on a good show 278 km above earth. Ken Paulman, writing for Midwest Energy News, conducted some cartographic detective work on a video that went viral, a time-lapse video of the earth's surface shot from the International Space Station.