Barrick’s Tongon mine hits production targets despite strikes, social unrest

Canada's Lucara Diamond Corp. (TSX:LUC) sold a 9.46-carat blue diamond for $4,515,000 or $477,272 per carat as part of a diamond sale this week.

Australian Sundance Resources (ASX: SDL) announced Friday it has signed a contract with the government of Cameroon, which paves the way for a mining permit and the beginning of construction of the $4.7 billion Mbalam iron ore project, straddling the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

South Africa’s Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) the world’s 4th largest miner, announced Thursday it would spin off two of its more troubled operation into a new company, Sibanye Gold.

The rise of mining costs will have a more dramatic impact on the 2013 industry results than in the last couple of years, revealed Thursday global ranking agency Fitch Ratings.

African nations join Canada in promoting the sale of "fair trade" gemstones

While the world concerns itself with the Syrian civil war and the dangers it poses for the already disturbed Middle East, little notice is taken of the conflicts affecting Africa, probably the single most complex region of the world and arguably its most troubled, warned Tuesday the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

The Arab states of Sudan and Saudi Arabia unveiled Tuesday plans to start mining for gold, copper, silver and other riches along the Red Sea basin between the two countries as early as 2014.

South Africa’s economy continues to struggle as a consequence of the widespread strikes that have hit its mining sector since August, weighing more heavily on the economy in the third quarter than what economists had predicted.

The company said it has to resume gold exports shortly or it will run out of money to cover running cost at its Sukari mine.