Frik Els , Editor

The Dar es Salaam Citizen reports Tanzanite One Mining, the dominant miner of the rare gemstone only found in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, has been ordered to increase the minimum wage for its employees from Sh180,000 to Sh350,000 per month (roughly US$215) as directed by the government. London-listed Tanzanite One has returned to profitability as prices for the gems which usually follow that of rough diamonds improve post-recession and is embarking on an expansion strategy, acquiring an Australian sapphire project earlier in June and reshuffling its board.

The value of Canada's oilsands grew by 2,220% to $441bn from $19bn between 1990 and 2009, according to a Statistics Canada study released on Tuesday. That put the value of crude bitumen from the oilsands higher than the value of coal, crude oil and natural gas combined. In 1990, oil sands reserves under active development amounted to around 500m cubic metres; by 2008, they had increased eight-fold to 4,300m cubic metres, thanks to improvements in extraction technology, new discoveries and an increase in the global demand for crude oil.

Alberta's Saccharum Energy Corp, an investment company focused on the resource sector announced on Tuesday that it has entered into an earn-in agreement with Marifil Mines Ltd to acquire up to a 70% interest in certain of Marifil's Argentinean potash properties. Trading in Saccharum's shares has been suspended on the TSX Venture exchange pending approval of this transaction. The capital pool company is up more than six-fold since listing at the beginning of last year.

Reuters quotes the chief executive of Russian potash producer Uralkali telling an investment conference in Moscow on Tuesday that spot potash prices could reach $600 per tonne by the end of the year. Uralkali also said it was considering entering into a transaction with Belaruskali, contradicting a Belarus deputy prime minister who earlier said the $20bn state-owned company was not for sale. A Belaruskali-Uralkali merger would create a group with annual production of 21m tonnes, dwarfing current number one Canada’s Potash Corp.

Montreal-based GeoMega announced the results from its Phase I diamond drilling program conducted on the Montviel property in Abitibi, Québec and said these latest results confirm that it is one of the world's most significantknown deposits of neodymium that can be developed quickly given the excellent local infrastructure such as road access, nearby hydroelectric services and rail.

Iron, zinc and coal miner China Natural Resources shed 20% of its value on the Nasdaq stock exchange in morning trade on Monday in the absence of any fresh news about its operations while China Shen Zou Mining lost over 8%, the worst performers in the sector. Investors are continuing to worry about the soundness of Chinese companies that came to the US market through so-called reverse listings with the value of the 98 companies declining sharply in recent weeks as creative accounting and other irregularities are uncovered at firms engaging in operations as diverse as software and timber.

A merger between Quebec-based ECU Silver Mining and Golden Minerals of Chicago announced on Friday had investors scrambling for the exits on Monday with the two companies at one point trading down 3.9% and 7% respectively on a generally bad day for silver stocks. The combined company worth over $600m with extensive assets in South America will keep its headquarters in Golden, Colorado and the Golden Minerals name and will be headed by Golden CEO, Jeffrey Clevenger.

Canada’s most valuable oil companies Suncor and Canadian Natural Resource – together worth over $100bn – were trading down over 3% on Thursday before recovering some ground following news that 2m barrels of oil per day - equal to Canada's total daily exports to the US – will be released onto the market over the next month. The International Energy Agency said 28 of its members, with the US providing about half of the total, would tap their strategic oil reserves in an effort to make up for lost output as Libya's civil war drags on.

By early afternoon on Thursday 7.5% or over $400m had been wiped off the value of Harmony Gold Mining stock in New York, the worst performer in an index of 50 of the largest gold and silver counters. Other South African gold miners were also punished with both Anglogold Ashanti and Gold Fields down over 5%. Some South African produces are struggling with cash outlays of $1,200/ounce – almost double the global average – thanks to a strong currency, wage disputes, power supply problems and geological issues. As the gold price eases as much as 180,000 oz of quarterly production are being put at risk.

Canadian Business reports merger and acquisition activity is expected to increase in Canada's oilpatch this year, as energy executives take a brighter view of their sector's prospects, according to a study released Wednesday. But the positive outlook is dampened somewhat by cost escalation for labour and equipment, the Ernst & Young report said. In 2010 Canadian energy M&A activity was dominated by oil sands. While the $4.65bn Sinopec-Syncrude deal was the largest the total the number of oil sands transactions tripled.