It has been recently announced that Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold will acquire Phelps Dodge, the second-largest copper producer in the world, for $25.9 billion in cash and stock, creating the largest copper producer in the world as well as the largest mining company in North America

With Russian ascendancy to an energy powerhouse catering to the needs of an ever-more-dependent Europe, what influence will Russian oil have not only on the economies of Europe but the politics as well?

A gas explosion Sunday at a coal mine in northern Mexico trapped 66 miners below ground and left 12 hospitalized with burns and broken bones, officials said. The explosion occurred before dawn at the mine near the town of Sabinas, 85 miles southwest of Eagle Pass on the Mexico-U.S. border.

Mine accidents and tragedies have been in the news a lot in the United States recently, and Canada has seen a crisis in a mine as well in recent days. China regularly experiences mining accidents, with death tolls sometimes in the hundreds.