The tide of deaths of infants and young children from an outbreak of lead poisoning in Zamfara State, in North West Nigeria did not come like a thief in the night. The stage had been set for the tragic incident several years earlier. Increasing activities of illegal miners and improper processing of lead-contaminated gold ore within households in the community, were largely responsible for the high death toll. Image of an artisinal miner holding wolframite is from Julien Harneis. 

Canadian Oil Sands Corp., which holds the largest stake in the massive Syncrude oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray, Alta., said Tuesday its second-quarter profits rose on the back of strong oil prices. Net income for the three months ended June 30 was $346 million, or 71 cents per share _ missing the average analyst estimate of 73 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Zimbabwe’s diamond production reached 2.329 million carats in the first half of 2011 with the bulk coming from the controversial Marange fields, Finance Minister Tendai Biti reported to Parliament on Tuesday. The Treasury expects production to ramp up in the second half to reach 8.2 million carats for the full year, which would be slightly lower than the 8.435 million carats mined in 2010.

Mongolia's state-owned miner Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (TT) has agreed to sell $250 million worth of coal from the east Tsankhi deposit to Aluminium Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) , a move insiders said was aimed at raising cash to help fund its impending listing fees. Under the agreement, Chalco would resell 30 percent of the coal to Japanese trading houses Itochu Corp and Mitsui as well as state-owned Korea Resources Corp (KORES), Erdenes TT LLC said in a statement seen on Wednesday.

REX Minerals has forecast more copper from its Hillside project in SA, releasing a blueprint for a 12-year mine to almost rival Olympic Dam in size. "The conceptual study supports our view that Hillside is one of Australia's largest copper development opportunities," managing director Steven Olsen said.

De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, announced Tuesday that it will further expand its retail outlets in China, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Shri Beni Prasad Verma, Union Minister for Steel, said that India will become the world's second largest producer of steel by 2013.

The copper mining project that is intended to begin in Namosi next year will inject approximately FJ$2 billion [US$1,161,770,000] into Fiji’s economy.

Xstrata Zinc has announced construction will begin immediately to develop the $246 million Lady Loretta mineral deposit located 140 kilometres north west of Mount Isa.