The Joburg township where outlaws make the rules

Despite setbacks in the global economy, sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow at 4.8% in this year, broadly unchanged from the 4.9% growth rate registered in 2011 and largely on track, according to the World Bank’s latest report.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have appointed a special "diamond cop" to combat the smuggling of gemstones and precious metals as the illegal trade flourishes on the back of demand from drug dealers.

South Africa’s Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world’s largest platinum producer, has offered to reinstate 12,000 miners fired in early October for illegally striking and pay them a $230) “hardship allowance” if they return to work by Tuesday morning.

Scientists from France's Ecole Polytechnique have developed a remarkable new technology which extracts trace amounts of gold from industrial waste water.

Unrest in South Africa has cost the country R3.1bn (US$350 million).

Where there is smoke… After several reports of Anglo American’s (LON:AAL) shareholders disappointment at both the company’s overall performance and her CEO, Cynthia Carroll, she has finally left the company.

The South African National Union of Mineworkers and two other unions signed Thursday a deal with industry body the Chamber of Mines (CoM), agreeing to a new pay structure for the strike-hit gold mining sector.

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE:AU), South Africa's largest gold miner by output, said Wednesday it has began to dismiss about 12,000 of its striking workers, joining this way an increasing list of mining companies that have sacked workers in an effort to end crippling strikes.

Gold Fields (JSE:GFI) has fired 8,500 striking workers at a mine in South Africa following their failure to respond to an ultimatum to abandon the strike.