Click the headlines to re-read the stories.
Predicting the unpredictable, November 12
In his Outcrop column, Robin Bromby looked at the tough practice of forecasting.
"Where would we be without analysts and their predictions? Well, we'd be having trouble filling pages of newspapers and columns on the internet, that's where," he wrote.
Disaster strikes Samarco, November 6
One of the biggest stories of the year came when the BHP Billiton/Vale-owned Samarco reported a dam collapse.
At that early stage, reports suggested 16 fatalities and up to 44 people missing.
Fatality at Paulsens, November 16
Northern Star Resources reported the death of a contractor, who became "seriously unwell and passed away", at its Paulsens gold mine.
The incident prompted an investigation and a temporary halt to operations.
BHP, Vale execs tour Samarco disaster site, November 12
BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie and Vale CEO Murilo Ferreira were overcome when they visited the devastation at the Samarco mine and surrounding communities in Brazil for the first time last month.
During the visit the companies established a fund to assist with the recovery effort.
BHP to slash Olympic Dam jobs, December 2
Earlier this month, during a copper investor visit in Chile, BHP announced that it was targeting $US400 million worth of cost savings from its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia.
The reductions should lead to unit costs of just $1/lb in FY17 - a 48% reduction on FY15, but would involve the cutting of 36% of the workforce.
China will bring Australia down: Goncalves, October 30
Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves isn't known for holding back on his thoughts, and the company's September quarter conference call was no exception.
"I think that Australia will only believe that China is destroying Australia when they build an artificial island on the Great Barrier Reef that they can see from the shore," he said.
BHP confirms 28 missing after Samarco accident, November 9
The tragedy of the Samarco incident continued to unfold with BHP confirming that 28 people were unaccounted for.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff declared a state of emergency and said it was important to establish the "causes and responsibilities" of the accident.
Sandfire to step it up at Monty after spectacular hit, November 5
Sandfire Resource revealed a stunning hit grading 34.4% copper at the best discovery of the year, Talisman Mining's Monty prospect.
The bornite-rich hole returned 7.3m at 6.2% copper and 2.8 grams per tonne gold from 325.6m down-hole; and 21.6m at 34.4% copper and 0.4gpt gold from 339.4m.
Samarco dam clean-up could exceed $1B, November 10
Based on early estimate, Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Young says the Samarco mine was likely to be shut until at least the 2019 financial year, while clean-up costs could exceed $US1 billion.
"This accident will add further pressure to BHP's cashflow, growth and safeguarding of the progressive dividend," he said.
Hegarty's EMR in $1B mine buy, November 24
A consortium led by Melbourne-based private equity firm EMR Capital announced it would acquire G-Resources' Martabe gold mine in Indonesia for $US775 million.
It was significant for EMR co-founder Owen Hegarty, as his former company Oxiana was originally developing the mine.
*Please note, all of the stories are from the last quarter due to a dramatic increase in traffic as a result of the relaunch of MiningNews.net in early October.
