Japan has found a silver lining in the cloud of nuclear plant shutdowns following last year's Fukushima disaster.

Namdeb, which plans to produce 600,000 carats in 2012, expects the new mine to produce 45,000 carats a year.

West Virginia's largest-ever mountaintop mining project is moving forward again, after a federal judge ruled the EPA overstepped its authority in rejecting a critical permit.

Kinross, the beleaguered gold producer whose stock price has been hammered of late due to a $4.6 billion writedown and alleged violations of securities laws, will continue pouring gold at its Tasiast mine in Africa until the year 2046, according to a technical report released on Friday.

An annual profit of more than $A530 million for the world's biggest rare-earths producer, China's Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co, a $1.23 billion North American takeover deal, and complaints by the US, EU and Japan to the World Trade Organisation over China's limiting of rare earth exports made March a busy month for the industry.

By 2025, with 250 million more Chinese projected to be living in cities, China’s share of global carbon pollution will jump to 30.3 percent from 26.8 percent this year, the EIA says.

Silver started this week moving in a positive direction, but is now back under pressure. The metal has yet to return to its February 29 high, and it appears that many investors are deciding not to wait around.

Gold royalty companies provide upfront capital to developing gold mining producers to help with the expenditures of bringing the mine into production.

Earlier this week, a fully loaded Brinks truck carrying between $3 million and $5 million in uncirculated loonies and toonies crashed on a snow covered highway in Ontario, Canada.