CHART: How every commodity performed in 2016

Former anti-Apartheid activist and Gold Fields board member Mamphela Ramphele has some harsh words for South Africa's mining bosses.

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) was hit by the mining unrest spreading through South Africa again Tuesday night, as strikers halted all of its operations in the country, which account for 32% of the multinational's total gold production.

Researchers in the University of York' s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence and the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) are giving a whole new meaning to the concept of “green mining,” as they said Friday they will develop a technique called "phyto-mining," which uses plants to extract platinum group metals (PGM) discarded during mine processing.

A bad choice of words.

Greenland could become the next global mining frontier, as global warming uncovers precious metals from glacial surroundings, states new research by natural resources experts GlobalData, a UK-based global business intelligence provider.

Workers at Lonmin's Marikana mine have accepted a 22% pay increase to end more than five weeks of deadly strikes.

What a difference a black swan can make.

Aquarium Platinum (LON,ASX, JSE:AQP) and Xstrata (LON: ) are the latest casualties of the ongoing labour unrest in South Africa. Both companies announced Friday they have suspended operations, as police swooped on striking protesters.

The gold mining industry has been digging its own grave by telling just half of the real cost story, Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) CEO Nick Holland told the audience Thursday at this year’s Denver Gold Forum in Colorado.