RioZim demands $92m from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Charles Taylor, was convicted in April of war crimes for arming Sierra Leone's rebels in return for blood diamonds. Taylor is now awaiting sentencing and the BBC tries to find out if mining in the country is now “clean”.

BusinessLive, in a feature article posted Saturday, presents a good summary of efforts made thus far to advance ocean mining.

Laurence Graff, the undisputed king of uber-expensive diamonds, will earn a tidy $290 million windfall when he restructures his Mayfair-based company and will vastly boost his paper wealth when Graff Diamonds lists in Hong Kong for as much as $4 billion.

Africa's economic indicators are all pointing up, but executive pay packages and living arrangements for expatriates are changing too.

The World Diamond Council has paid a special tribute to De Beers Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer at a gala dinner in Vicenza, Italy.

“Where the industry previously lacked investment opportunities and choice, it now has more projects than cash flows. All of us in the industry are having to make choices.”

African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) has decided to pay the Tanzanian government an extra 1% in royalties, in light of the current gold price environment.

Montreal-based Semafo (TSX:SMF) had a good first quarter, producing and selling more gold than in the same time frame last year.

The government of Zimbabwe said the new mining licence fees gazetted in January will not be reversed despite calls by the mining industry for the levies to be reduced.