Nigeria awards mining exploration contract to 10 mining, consulting firms

First Uranium's (TSE:FIU) plan to sell some of its South African assets was thrown into further disarray after Kumvest (Pty) Ltd. offered to buy First Uranium in order to block the sale.

Large double-digit declines in the value of rough diamond trade by the U.S. in April. Rough diamond imports of $29.7 million fell 24.7 percent year on year.

The South African diamond industry faces serious challenges upstream and downstream, where job creation, wealth creation and the beneficiation of raw diamonds are not concerns for regulatory authorities, says diamond polishing company African Romance CEO Mohseen Moosa.

The IIED report urges the sector to move from improving its standards in principle to actually implementing them in practice.

Canadian Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K, NYSE:KGC) said on Wednesday that workers at its Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania, West Africa, have initiated an unlawful work stoppage, halting mining and processing activity.

Consulting firm says the top 40 global mining firms earned a record profit of $133 billion last year driven mainly by iron ore, however their market capitalization fell by 25%.

The Obama administration has granted visas to two senior officials from Zimbabwe to attend a meeting of an international body charged with monitoring and preventing the sale of blood diamonds, despite human rights concerns and financial sanctions against the pair.

Bosco Ntaganda, a fugitive UN war crimes suspect who recently defected from the army and is believed to be behind Democratic Republic of Congo’s most recent rebellion, is apparently bankrolling the operation with war money he made while controlling the country’s lucrative mines, publishes Global Witness.

Canada’s third main gold miner Kinross Gold (TSX:K) will focus on its wholly-owned Paracatu mine, in Brazil's Minas Gerais state, after it sold its stake in the Crixas gold mine to South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti for $220 million