Anglo American about to make key decision on South African assets sale

In an interview with Moneyweb on Tuesday, De Beers Chief Commercial Officer said the company had experienced its best six months since it went private in a $19 billion deal with parent Anglo-American in 2001. Bruce Cleaver said the stellar results that saw net income tripling had been driven not only by "enormously strong" consumer demand in China, Hong Kong, Macau, India and the Gulf states but "surprisingly" strong growth in America, where sales had been anaemic over the last few years.

Diamond mining group De Beers said on Tuesday that "exceptional" sales had nearly tripled net earnings in the first half to £423 million ($694 million), up from £155 million ($255 million) in the first half of 2010. The world's top diamond producer said it had registered total sales of £2.4 billion ($3.9 billion) in the six months to June 30, up from £1.8 billion ($3.0 billion) the year before.

Nambia?s ministry of finance said that Nambia plans to raise its mining tax by 17% to boost revenue, but the hike will not apply to the diamond sector. As per report the ministry of finance wants the mining tax to be raised to 44% from 37.5%.

CDE have announced the addition of Pilot Crushtec to their global distributor network with responsibility for South Africaand sub-SaharanAfrica. Pilot Crushtec will promote the full range of CDE washing equipment including the Evowash sand washing plant, Prograde screens, M2500 mobile washing plant, Rotomax logwashers and Aquacycle thickeners.

Zimbabwe's state media has reported that the state mining corporation says it is paying government employee raises this month with revenues from controversy-mired diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe.

The value of mergers and acquisitions in the mining sector more than doubled to $96.3 billion in the first six months of the year and could top $200 billion for the whole of 2011 says a new research report. Canadian companies – both as acquirers and as the targets of buyers – dominated corporate finance activity in the first half shaking on more than a deal a day and at 325 deals accounting for almost two-thirds of all the metals and minerals transactions carried out around the world.

Bloomberg reports BHP workers in Chile voted Sunday to extend their strike at the world’s largest copper mine. Stoppages at BHP’s Australian coal operations may resume this week. Thirty thousand South African coal mine workers including Anglo American and Xstrata employees walked off the job Sunday and may be joined by 160,000 gold industry workers. Strikes that started over the weekend are impacting output from mines of diamond giant De Beers. Workers are seeking a larger slice as global producers report record earnings: Melbourne-based BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, is expected to report full-year profits of $22.5 billion next month, almost double 2010’s net income. Xstrata may report record 2011 profit of $7.3 billion and Anglo American $7.4 billion, estimates show.

Canada’s mining industry continues to rally from the recent global recession, with this year’s production currently exceeding that of 2010, reports government department Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

Namibia plans to raise its mining tax to 44 percent from 37.5 percent but said the hike will not apply to diamond mining companies, the ministry of finance said in a statement on Friday. The ministry said the country is facing volatility in its key revenue sources and is looking to strengthen revenue collection.