Platinum

Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest platinum producer, has fired 12,000 workers taking part in a three-week illegal strike after following through on tough talk over wildcat stoppages in South African mines.

The CEO of diversified mining giant Anglo American (LSE:AAL) Cynthia Carroll has been appointed chairman of venerable diamond miner De Beers.

Labour unrest at Anglo American Platinum’s South Africa operations spread on Tuesday to a new mine as the company and fellow miner AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) have hardened their stance on strikers.

Only five months after Google’s billionaire co-founders and filmmaker James Cameron officially launched their asteroid mining focused Planetary Resources company, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is funding a study to evaluate how viable the endeavour really is.

If Ivanplats's $165 million worth of bonds are not redeemed for stock, rates on the debt soars to credit card-like repayments of just under 19% on November 10 and to an eye-watering 26% in November next year.

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.