Recycling is an effective way of creating treasure out of waste at a fraction of the energy used in producing primary metals from minerals. Now that both ferrous and non-ferrous metals are ruling at historically high prices, the outlook for scrap recovery and metal production through the secondary route of melting of scrap has never been this good. Steel scrap deals are made at rates of over $600 a tonne.

Ghana's Minerals Commission has come up with a regulatory framework that will ensure that mining companies operating in the country cough up more to the government coffers. The new legislation

About 1,000 miners have been withdrawn from an underground mine of Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) in Maharashtra after a carbon monoxide leak. WCL shut down two pits of Ballarpur collieries after traces of carbon monoxide were noticed spreading steadily through the tunnels on Tuesday. The gas leak was first noticed on Tuesday afternoon after the workers complained that there was smoke in the mine. The miners were immediately withdrawn from the spot. TNN

Junior miner Vulcan Resources Ltd has approved the initial development of its 800,000 tonnes per annum Kylylahti copper-cobalt-nickel mine and concentrator in eastern Finland. The Perth-headquartered company's definitive feasibility study (DFS) has confirmed the economic and technical viability of the $US170 million ($A184.5 million) project, which is estimated to have a life of mine pre-tax cash flow of $US618 million ($A670.84 million). Chairman Barry Eldridge said he was delighted with the outcome of the DFS, given the global escalation in costs.

Chinese Co may resume work on Thar coal project RAMZAN CHANDIO KARACHI - The Mines and Mineral Department of the Sindh government has made a comprehensive plan to utilise the natural resources of province while three large granite factories would be set up in Nagarparkar of Tharparker and 30 percent energy will be produced from the coal reserves by 2030, the senior official told The Nation.

Xstrata Faces Australian Law Suit On Lead Levels AUSTRALIA: April 14, 2008 CANBERRA - Mining company Xstrata Plc is set to face legal action over its Mount Isa operations, which produce about 4 percent of the world's lead, from a young girl suffering lead poisoning, the girl's lawyer said on Friday. But the case could widen, with reports that health authorities have identified 45 children with dangerously high levels of lead in their blood in Mount Isa, a remote mining town about 1,300 km (800 miles) north west of the Queensland city of Brisbane.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has published a report of its efforts to reduce the company's environmental impact in 2007. The report focuses on emissions to air and water, waste management, land stewardship and climate change. The report and a summary of Rio Tinto's CSR strategy can be found on the company's website.

LONDON-based Vedanta Resources is planning to invest $15 billion in the mining sector in India and Africa by 2010. Vedanta Resources executive chairman Anil Agrawal told ET that the company is planning to become the largest producer of metals in the world. "We are targeting at achieving the 1 million tonnes per annum production capacity in copper and zinc while in Aluminium, where we have already touched the magical 1 million figure, we are trying to scale it up to 3 million tonnes per annum,' he said.

Eike Batista, a Brazilian mining entrepreneur, says he owes the success of his business, built from scratch and now worth billions, to following the basic rules of mining exploration that he learned as a young man digging for gold. "In mining, you go to some crazy place, you set up a camp, you start looking for water and energy and this way you can build anything," Batista said. "That's the mind-set. That's my life. That's how I learned to build things from zero."