Canada’s Saskatchewan and Manitoba are the world’s new top mining destinations

Mining Weekly reports De Beers is going all out to create 5,000 non-mining jobs in Namaqualand over the next five years as it exits a region on the South African west coast where it has mined for the past 90 years. Projects include a wind farm, abalone culturing for export to China where it is a highly prized delicacy, a prison warden training facility and a joint venture with sister company Anglogold for undersea gold mining. The company has recently come under fire over plans to sell the properties including two towns to a much smaller outfit that will have to take responsibility for rehabilitation over a 970 square km area pockmarked by open pits.

London-listed Gem Diamonds announced Tuesday it has sold the world’s 14th largest white diamond discovered at its Letšeng Mine in Lesotho two months ago for $16.5 million in cash. Gem will also share in the profit of any polished diamond cut from the 550 carat Letšeng Star. Letšeng is fast-becoming the richest source of large diamonds in the world and without the occasional large diamond find, the Letšeng pipe would probably be a marginal deposit, but the mine, 30% owned by the King of Lesotho, has also yielded the the 478 carat Light of Letšeng that went for $18.4 million in 2008 and two other big rocks.

A small South African community 300km north of Cape Town is taking on De Beers over the diamond giant's plans to sell its 970 square km Namaqualand properties to a much smaller outfit already operating in the area. Locals say Trans Hex, which will assume responsibility for rehabilitation, has a poor track record in the area, lacks financial clout and the environmental management programme put together by De Beers already falls far short of what is needed to clean up almost a century of opencast mining in the biodiversity hotspot. In a video (after the jump) community spokesperson David Markus says a diamond may be forever for De Beers, but for his people, "it’s the suffering that’s forever."

BusinessWeek reports Alrosa says it mined more diamonds than global rival De Beers in 2009, 2010 and the first half of 2011 and is benefiting from prices for rough diamonds of $109 – up 30% over last year. Alrosa accounts for more than a quarter of world output and for 2011 predicts $5 billion in revenue. The secretive firm has been feeding the market more information recently in anticipation of a 2012 public offering, but now says its good financial performance may reduce the size.

A dispute between investment banker Euro Pacific Canada Inc. and Midlands Minerals Corp. (CVE:MEX) is drawing in two of the biggest names in the gold investing industry. The Globe and Mail is reporting that Euro Pacific Canada is seeking damages of $10 million from Midlands over a breach of contract — an amount that is actually larger than the tiny explorer's market cap of $7.21 million based on today's counter.

Harry Winston Diamond shares fell 11 cents on Friday despite a successful Q3 production report. The company (TSX:HW, NYSE:HWD) said it processed 3% more ore at its 40%-owned Diavik Diamond Mine in the Canadian north, producing 1.9 million carats from 0.6 million tonnes of ore. That translates to an 8% increase in recovered carats from the same period in 2010 due to higher processed ore grades, says Harry Winston.

Venturebeat reports De Beers has set up investment offices in Silicon Valley to find and fund synthetic diamond startups through the investment arm of a subsidiary Element Six. Element Six Ventures has already funded a number of startups that use synthetic diamonds in the semiconductor industry and other manufacturing processes. Its new office will be in a Santa Clara, Calif. location that will also house a new production site. Synthetic diamond is a surprisingly mature business – the first synthesis of synthetic diamond was achieved by a high pressure, high temperature process in 1953 and 7 years later these processes were commercialized and volume manufacturing started in South Africa in 1960.

News reports on Saturday say Rio Tinto's Zimbabwe subsidiary Murowa Diamonds has ceded 51% of its equity to comply with a new law that requires Zimbabweans to own the majority of foreign companies. Rio Tinto says on its website it has completed a feasibility study and received environmental go-ahead to expand Murowa production 8-fold at a cost of $200 million. Saturday's report cast serious doubts on whether the investment, which requires foreign capital, would now be made. It appeared in recent weeks as if Zimbabwe was soft-pedalling the indigenization laws, but Rio Tinto's capitulation has now put pressure on Impala Platinum, struggling to hold onto its $20 billion worth of reserves in the country.

IDEX Online News reports the rough diamond market is in a rut and demand for rough is so limited, that traders are not buying goods, even if offered at 12 or even 13 percent below what DTC's roughly 80 selected clients – called Sightholders – paid for at last week's Sight. Traders cannot move it, and manufacturers claim that with the current decline in polished prices they will lose money. IDEX says from a low cost supplier, DTC – the rough diamond sales and distribution arm of De Beers – has ascended to the pricier side of the list, alongside Russia's Alrosa. Many lots also went unsold at BHP Billiton's latest tender and Diamdel's auction, with bids falling short of the reserve prices.