The mining industry is experiencing unprecedented change: to be successful, companies need to remain nimble and creative, yet focused on their goals. Now that is so obvious to most mining CEOs that it is almost a truism, yet in practice they need help. As mining companies move through the mining asset life cycle, they encounter different challenges to maintaining.

Google has agreed to purchase for an undisclosed sum the two year-old start-up maker of high-altitude solar-powered drones Titan Aerospace, based in New Mexico. Titan claims a number applications for its drones, including data delivery, crop monitoring and search-and-rescue aid. However the unmanned aircraft can remain in flight for as long as five years without having to land or refuel, which has led to them being classed as 'atmospheric satellites' with corresponding communications potential.

The council believes that private sector demand for gold in China will rise to at least 1,350 tonnes by 2017 as the population becomes wealthier. The forecast also comes as China overtakes India to become the world’s largest gold-consuming nation.

The World Gold Council says China is at the "centre of the global gold eco-system", as rapid urbanisation creates a rising middle class. Chinese customers bought 1,132 tonnes of gold last year, in jewellery as well as gold bars and coins for investment.

But what is intrapreneurship? Zahra, (Journal of Business Venturing, 1991), defined intrapreneurship as the process of creating new business within established firms to improve organisational profitability and enhance a company’s competitive position or the strategic renewal of existing business.

China relies massively on copper, which is used in electronic production, and the Las Bambas mine is expected to produce more than 450,000 tonnes of the metal per year in its first five years.

Having spent three years miniaturising its invention and trialling it among the developer and 'Explorer' community Google is ready to launch Glass on the public, hoping to create positive feedback and stimulate demand. The voice and touch activated miniature computer, worn on a spectacles frame with a miniature optical display, can shoot film and video, and give handsfree access to the internet. Glass is mounted on a pair of compatible spectacles and the small screen sits above the wearer's right eye.

Data from The Steel Index highlighted that the import price of 62 percent iron ore fines at China's Tianjin port added $1.20 to $119.40 per tonne as imports from top consumers China is expected to resume its record breaking pace. This has seen the price of iron or climb 14 percent from the lows it reached in early March.

Makers M3D reached its $400,000 target in just eleven minutes of the device appearing on the crowd funding website. Early backers of the machine will be able to get one for just $199, while other backers can pledge as little as $299.

Dubbed Micro, it comes with easy-to-use software that allows users to search, drag and drop objects to print. At just 7.3in square and weighing just one kilogram the device will be easy to move around, and can be used with Windows, Mac or Linux.