The race to mine the seafloor took another step forward today. Diamond Fields International said it has completed the world's first NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for its Atlantis II sea-floor deposit, located about 115 kilometres from Jeddah in the Red Sea. DFI has been exploring the deposit with joint venture partner Manafa International.

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.

African Barrick Gold reported net income of $120 million, a 21% increase over H1 in 2010. The EPS was 29.3 cents. The EBITDA was $245 million, up 25%, and operational cash flow was $186 million, an increase of 18% on H1 2010. Cash costs for gold climbed 24% to $655 per ounce due to cost inflation and North Mara mine sequencing.

Cenovus generated cash flow of $939 million or $1.24 per share diluted in the second quarter of 2011. Refining operating cash flow was $322 million during the quarter mainly due to improved refined product prices and higher throughput.

Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) today reported its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2011. For the 2011 second quarter, the Company reported record revenues of $632.2 million and record EBITDA of $70.2 million. Revenues and EBITDA for the year-ago quarter were $539.0 million and $40.6 million, respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2011, the Company reported revenues of $1.2 billion and EBITDA of $118.8 million. Revenues and EBITDA for the first half of 2010 were $1.0 billion and $85.8 million, respectively.

South African gold miners will this week join thousands of workers seeking pay rises in widening nationwide strikes, threatening to hurt exports from Africa's largest economy at a time when bullion is at record highs.

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.

The price of gold was firm above $1,610 Tuesday morning as the U.S. dollar was trading weak amid U.S. debt stalemate. Gold for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, edged down $1.00 to $1,611.20 an ounce.

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%.