Patriot Coal's Hobet mine was back in production by late afternoon.

World number one iron ore producer Vale over the weekend "played down fears" that the planned $20 billion expansion of its Carajas mine would harm the local Awá people described as "Earth’s most threatened tribe."

"I believe the recovery will happen soon," José Carlos Martins, the Brazilian miner's director of iron ore and strategy, said during a conference call discussing the firm's second quarter results, adding that a modest recovery in China will boost prices.

AngloGold, the number one gold miner on the continent, said "it was treating the death as an occupational accident pending an inspection scheduled for Monday."

Deutsche Bank expects that platinum supply could see further cutbacks as economic/social pressures in South Africa mount and the price could be dragged higher by stronger gold prices over the remainder of 2012.

Below $120 a tonne most Chinese producers become unprofitable, but a sustained period below this level may indicate a fundamental shift in the industry.

Sepro Mineral Systems has been awarded a contract by Hemco, Nicaragua’s second largest gold producer, to supply a milling and gravity recovery circuit for the company’s operation in the municipality of Bonanza in north-eastern Nicaragua.

Examples: Worldwide orders for dry-bulk vessels dropped 49% to 9.8 million deadweight  tons in the first half of 2012. The monthly index of new-ship prices in China is now at its lowest point since March 2004.

Baja Mining dropped by almost a third on Friday after announcing class action proceedings seeking $260 million in damages for misrepresenting the true state of affairs at its Boleo project in Mexcio since 2010. It is now worth a paltry $18.7 million on the Toronto big board. During the heady days of 2007 Baja Mining was valued at $836 million.