Tethyan Copper Company in November 2011 filed for international arbitration to protect its legal rights at the Reko Diq copper-gold project in northwest Balochistan province, Pakistan.

Atlantic Ltd., an Australian company based in Perth, has signed an agreement with the Institute of Mining Science & Metallurgy, under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, to undertake a development study for a Vietnamese bauxite extraction and supply chain industry. The Central Highlands region of Vietnam hosts significant high-quality bauxite resources, which to date are largely undeveloped. The development study will assess a “mine-rail-port” proposal submitted by Atlantic to local and national authorities.

Central Asia Resources announced in late September 2011 it has started mining at its Dalabai gold project in Kazakhstan. Central Asia Resources acquired the project in 2008 and has focused on it as an easy-to-develop, heap leach operation that could generate early cash flow to provide funding for further exploration and development at other company projects in Kazakhstan. The project was developed at a low capital expenditure of $10.7 million, and cash costs of production are expected to average $540/oz.

Eldorado Gold has released the results of an expansion study that outlines a potential doubling of production at its Kişladağ heap-leach gold mine in western Turkey. Assuming positive ongoing results related to final project details, a construction decision and placement of orders for long-lead equipment are expected by year-end 2011.

Indian steelmaker Jindal Steel and Power and Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding in early August 2011 to work jointly toward global commercialization of the HIsmelt direct iron ore smelting technology developed by Rio Tinto.