Mali to produce lithium by 2020 with 694,000 tonnes discovered

Junior miner Firestone Diamonds announced today it has found three large diamonds at its Liqhobong mine in Lesotho and that first quarter production at the location was looking up.

A South African court on Friday granted the Department of Mineral Resources and Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) permission to appeal in a complex case for limited rights at Sishen, one of the world’s largest iron-ore mines.

Shares of Avion Gold failed to recover on Thursday after taking a 28% pummeling the day before, despite announcing vastly improved mineral resources at its Tabakoto Project in Mali, West Africa.

Africa's largest gold miner AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) posted first-quarter earnings Thursday of $429 million, which more than double the same period last year, despite a drop in production on the year.

African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) shares rose 6% today as the miner announced its board has approved a $185 million expansion at Bulyanhulu, its underground gold mine in Tanzania.

With huge investments in Peruvian copper, Chinalco Mining, a division of the giant Aluminum Corp of China, follows another Chinese state-owned miner to the Hong Kong market to raise money.

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world’s largest platinum producer, launched today the first of five fuel cell-powered locomotive prototypes to be tested at its mining operations in South Africa.

Canadian diamond producer Lucara Diamond Corp announced today that production from its recently inaugurated Karowe mine in Botswana could be available for sale in June.

Australian junior Elemental Minerals (ASX, TSX: ELM), which is developing a potash project in the Republic of Congo, announced it has increased measured and indicated resources at its Kola deposit by 265% to just under one billion tons.