SLIDESHOW: Mining on the mend – 2016 year in review

Al Jazeera profiles the dangerous mining work in the Mingora emerald mines in Pakistan. "We work in the jaws of death, but we are poor and don't have a choice. Thank god the owners have been kind enough to give me a job," says one worker in the video. About 150 labourers are employed in at least 16 such mines.

As has previously been reported by Lucara Diamond, in April 2010, legal proceedings were initiated against African Diamonds Plc, Lucara's wholly-owned subsidiary, by two former directors of African Diamonds claiming entitlement to a 3% royalty on production from the AK6 diamond project. The claim was heard in the Botswana High Court in early June, 2011. The High Court delivered its ruling today, dismissing the claims against African Diamonds, with costs awarded against the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs have 30 days to seek to appeal the ruling.

As the country marked Heroes Day, Robert Mugabe used the occasion to make fresh threats to punish foreign owned companies from Western countries that have imposed targeted sanctions on him and his key ZANU PF officials. The US and European Union slapped the sanctions on Mugabe and his cronies because of human rights abuses.

Kimberley Process members may be regretting their decision in June to allow Zimbabwe to export diamonds, with a new BBC documentary showing security forces beating and raping prisoners at two camps in the Marange diamond fields. The New York Times reported on the release Monday of the documentary "Panorama", which said the camps held workers recruited by the police and the military to diamonds for them, and then demand a large share of the profits: "According to the report, a released prisoner who was not named said guards at the camps were beating prisoners three times a day, with 40 lashes at a time. Dogs were loosed to bite shackled inmates, and imprisoned women were frequently raped, the program said."

TimesLive reports diamond giant De Beers plans to put hazardous waste - and up to 1,000 prisoners - into its disused property and diamond mines in the picturesque Namaqualand region (depicted), in the northwest of South Africa. The company, which also had to settle a two-week strike over wages on Thursday, said the projects were just two of several potential business ideas for the disused old mine areas and that the Department of Minerals have asked for further public consultation and an impact study. Last month De Beers concluded a deal with the state power utility Eskom to build a 150MW wind farm on a large stretch of coast north of Kleinzee, one of two towns that form part of the De Beers properties.

The Economic Times reports Botswana is the world’s biggest rough diamond producer by value in 2010. According to statistics release by the Kimberley Process, a UN certified scheme, despite Russia producing more rough diamonds in 2010 at 34 million carats worth around $2.38 billion, Botswana’s 22 million carats mined in 2010 were worth around $2.59 billion — $210 million dollars more than Russia.

According to a new report by Research & Markets high uranium prices, paralleled by growing global demand for energy, will result in Namibia doubling its uranium production to approximately 12,000 tonnes by 2015 from the 5,300 tonnes the country produced in 2009. Namibia's extensive uranium deposits, coupled with the expansion of existing mines, will result in the country's uranium production increasing sharply in the short to medium term.

A wage agreement between De Beers Consolidated Mines and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has been signed, the diamond producer said on Thursday.

Bloomberg reports demand for diamond jewelry in India may slow as a surge in prices discourages buyers. Polished diamond prices, which jumped about 60 percent to 70 percent in the last six months, may gain further in the next few months, said Sandeep Kulhalli, vice president, retail and marketing at Tanishq, the jewelry retail chain owned by Titan. The company is India’s biggest retailer of gold jewelry.