MINING.COM MINUTE: Biggest stories of the week

Gold miners in Western Australia state are being hit with an increase in royalty payments under measures released on Thursday that are designed to return the one-time "economic engine of a nation" to fiscal health via revenue from the mining sector.

The London Metal Exchange sought on Thursday to win back trading volumes by proposing a cut in fees for trades crucial to its physical user base as rivals gear up to offer alternatives.

Once Banfora is up and running, it would take the company's annual gold output to between 300,000 and 350,000 ounces.

Spreading sunshine.

Official figures released on Thursday signall a bad start for the second half of the year with business confidence at its lowest in more than three decades.

President John Magufuli has asked for a review of a local contract belonging to Petra Diamonds and ordered senior officials to resign over the outcome of a probe into the diamond and tanzanite sector.

Mining Development sub-secretary expects exploration activities to rise by 2 per cent in 2017

People can now try on different engagement rings from anywhere in the world using augmented reality

The cooperation agreement aims at identifying and exploring gold and copper targets in the areas covered by both companies’ existing licenses