Frik Els , Editor

South Africa's mineral resources minister Susan Shabangu is on a road show in Australia and the UK to quell fears of mine seizures and drum up new investment for the country. So far few are suspending their disbelief over nationalization.

BusinessDay reports De Beers has no intention of reducing its interests in South Africa and will up planned investment in its new Venetia underground mine by more than $600 million to $1.9 billion. The Venetia expansion comes after the company this week signed a new $2 billion multi-currency credit facility and the sale of its disused SA mines. De Beers Consolidated Mines delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in May of 2001 after more than a hundred years on the South Africa bourse when the Oppenheimer family took the firm private.

Gem Diamonds' Letšeng mine continued to polish its reputation as the world's richest source of large diamonds, the London-listed company reported in a management statement covering July to October. 15 diamonds were found that were sold for more than $1 million and 50 roughs fetched prices greater than $20,000/ct;  one fancy pink went for $156,000 /ct.  Letšeng also recovered 171 diamonds greater than 10.8 ct in size. Excluding the 550ct Letšeng Star sold for $16.5 million last month, the mine averages sales of $2,425/ct. No wonder then that the board will meet this month on a feasibility study expanding capacity 75%.

Reuters reports leaders in Peru's Cajamarca region demanded on Wednesday that Newmont Mining and partner Buenaventura abandon their $4.8 billion Conga project after talks with the central government broke down. The president of Cajamarca said massive protests will be held next week. In October, Newmont was forced to briefly shut down adjacent Yanacocha, South America's largest gold mine over the protests. Conga would be the biggest investment ever in Peru mining and is a crucial test for the country's new president Ollanta Humala, who campaigned on ending conflicts over natural resources.

ZeeNews report the world's largest steel-maker ArcelorMittal on Thursday reported a dip of over 51% in net income to $659 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, due to rising raw material costs and a fall in demand. The Indian giant also said it will face increasing pricing and volume pressures in the final quarter and is idling production as a result – it has mothballed eight furnaces in Europe and permanently retired another just over the last two months. Arcelor's gloomy outlook prompted one analyst to observe: "We're in a very dark market environment right now."

Equipment failure that put a huge dent in production and which is now the subject of a $140 million insurance claim, higher input costs as a result of increased electricity charges, and three fatalities and a pricing dispute with a unit of Anglo American were the main reasons given for a headline loss of $58 million for the quarter.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) called off a strike on Wednesday after reaching a deal with Xstrata over the coal giant's voluntary employee share ownership plan. Xstrata agreed to allocate shares to workers equally and not based on employment grade, NUM's one gripe. Mine ownership and nationalization are once again fiercely debated topics in the country 17 years after the end of white rule and observers believe SA’s allure as an investment destination has been tarnished by the heavy weather accompanying the Xstrata deal. The plan gives workers 3% of the company and is over and above the company’s 26% local ownership obligations which it already meets.

Shares of Randgold Resources, a pure-play gold mining company focused on west and central Africa, soared 7.4% Wednesday after announcing third quarter production increased 80% and sales jumped to $309.6 million from only $116.3 a year ago. Despite a once-off drop in gold sales from the previous quarter following instability at its Tongon mine in the Ivory Coast where it has been producing for one year and what it described as once in a century rainfall at its Loulo/Gounkoto operations in Mali, third-quarter income increased more than four-fold to $106.8 million.

The UK's Telegraph reports two hundred wealthy Democrats were paying $5,000 a head this week to have lunch with Barack Obama – up to $7,500 if they also wanted their pictures taken with him – at San Francisco's posh W Hotel. Outside it was very different – some of the party's biggest donors were protesting. There is increasing bitterness on the left about Obama's perceived closeness to industry and what they see as his failure to honour environmental promises. Like the San Francisco protesters many former campaign donors are now threatening to withdraw financial support if he fails to block the Keystone XL oil pipeline and putting off the decision – hinted at by the US State Department this week – should not come as a surprise to anyone following Obama's poll numbers..

Arabian American Development Co, announced over the weekend it has completed construction of the gold, silver and copper mine in Saudi-Arabia which it is developing with Saudi's Al-Kobra Mining Company (Amak). The Texas-based company, which owns 37% of Amak, said it will turn the facility over to the Chinese surface operator to begin operations end-November. In July Arabian American Development got a $37m injection from a fund controlled by the League of Arab States. Shareholders in the Nasdaq-listed company saw the value of their investment rise a cool $107m as a result of the transaction and over the last month stock in the 44-year old company has risen 28.5%. The mine in a Yemen border province is the only non-government mine in the Saudi kingdom and is scheduled to begin production early next year.