Large stretches of salmon-spawning streams and thousands of acres of wetlands would be wiped out if a large-scale mining project were to be built in southwestern Alaska's copper-rich Bristol Bay region, according to a report issued Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The report, while not directly addressing it, is a potential blow to the massive Pebble copper and gold mine operation proposed by an international alliance of mining interests, and opposed by environmentalists and local native groups.

Chile's Supreme Court suspended a key permit for Canadian miner Goldcorp Inc's El Morro copper-gold project, the latest setback for the controversial project and one of the biggest legal blows to a mining project in the world's top copper producer.

El Morro, Goldcorp's only major asset in Chile, had its environmental permit for the $3.9 billion project struck down in February by an appeals court at the request of an indigenous agricultural community. Chile's Supreme Court upheld the ruling on Friday.

Newmont Mining has shown its "willingness" to improve the environmental mitigation plan for its proposed gold mine known as Conga, Peru's government said on Monday, as it seeks to overcome opposition to the mine.

Mines and Energy Minister Jorge Merino said he would confer with officials from U.S.-based Newmont to define how the mitigation plan would be altered after a team of independent environmental auditors recommended a series of changes that could increase the cost of the controversial project, now estimated at $4.8 billion.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala said on Friday that U.S.-based Newmont Mining should carry out a more ambitious environmental mitigation plan if it hopes to build its $4.8 billion Conga gold mine project.

Humala, who urged community activists to stop protesting against the stalled mine's construction, said the government would make sure the company adheres to strict social, environmental and labor goals.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala said on Friday that U.S.-based Newmont Mining should carry out a more ambitious environmental mitigation plan if it hopes to build its $4.8 billion Conga gold mine project.

Humala, who urged community activists to stop protesting against the stalled mine's construction, said the government would make sure the company adheres to strict social, environmental and labor goals.

A Romanian court annulled a zoning plan in a decision that may further delay a project to set up Europe's largest open-cast gold mine in the Carpathian town of Rosia Montana, opponents of the mine said on Thursday.

Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC), majority-owned by Canada's Gabriel Resources Ltd, aims to use cyanide to extract 314 metric tonnes (346 tons) of gold and 1,500 tonnes of silver in the western Romanian county of Alba. The project has dragged on for 14 years and still needs an environmental permit.

Hundreds of Romanians protested on Saturday against a plan to set up Europe's biggest open-cast gold mine in a small Carpathian town, joining a wave of anti-government rallies.

For the past two weeks, thousands of citizens have gathered in cities across Romania to demand the resignation of President Traian Basescu and his close ally, Prime Minister Emil Boc, as anger over austerity measures and falling living conditions have spread.

Days of increasingly violent environmental protests forced the suspension Tuesday of a $4.8-billion gold mining project in northern Peru operated by US mining giant Newmont, the mine said.

The protests have been simmering for days, with a mob of some 1,500 demonstrators setting fire to a local warehouse, and protests held throughout the Cajamarca department, which has a population of some 1.4 million.

The President, Ms Pratibha Patil, today asked Indian industry houses to exploit the vast opportunities in the mining sector in Mongolia, saying that the gold, copper and uranium reserves here hold much in store for them.

“The mining boom that Mongolia is presently experiencing is predicted to make Mongolia's economy the fastest growing in the world by 2013. The World Bank's annual GDP growth rate projection for Mongolia in 2013 is 22.9 per cent,” Ms Patil said.
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