Harmony was the first mining firm to employ full-time union officials, complete with offices and mobile telephones, to ensure constant dialogue.

ECONOMIST: South African gold mining

Her first-person narrator, Katniss Everdeen, who hails from a shabby coal-mining area, is a tough, resourceful girl, a huntress who protects her family.

NEWYORKER: Kids at Risk

Noelle Nelson, the acting chief executive of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, which is backing the project, said the settlers' first-hand accounts at the State Library are "unrivalled".

BBC: Australian project hunts lost indigenous languages

Another worry: a worldwide shortage of tellurium, which is produced as a mining by-product, to fuel First Solar's long-term growth.

FORBES: Storm Clouds

The mining group reported a 22% fall in first-half profit as metals prices fell and spoke of near-term uncertainty, but said it was confident about demand in the long run.

WSJ: European Stocks Rise as Markets Close

Music critic Christian Bordal says a young English band called the 22-20s are mining some of that same territory on their first CD.

NPR: Bordal on Music: British Blues from 22-20s

Its first target is already well-known: Xstrata, a massive Anglo-Swiss mining company in which Glencore already owns a 34% stake.

FORBES: Companies & Strategies

During just the first five months of the year, the central-bank buying amounted to 15% of global mining production during the same period, said a research note this week from Commerzbank.

FORBES: Central Banks Continue Buying Gold To Diversify Portfolios