Swiss scientists developing method to detect low-temperature heated rubies from Mozambique

Johannesburg. Tuesday, 27 September 2011. Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (Harmony) regrets to advise that following an ore pass accident and subsequent rescue efforts, an employee and two members of an external rescue team were fatally injured yesterday at its Evander mine in Mpumalanga. Investigations are currently underway to establish the causes of the accidents. Operations at the mine have been stopped until investigations have been completed

Deep Yellow, a uranium exploration company with operations in Namibia and in Australia, announced on Tuesday additional high grade uranium intercepts from RC drilling at the Ongolo Alaskite Deposit and the MS7 Prospect.

Fin24 is reporting that a huge tailings dam being built in Kuma township could get kyboshed due to opposition from environmental groups, pressure groups and demands from landowners. The Kareerand tailings dam being built by First Uranium TSX:FIU, JSE:FUM 15km outside Stilfontein is a R400 million project motivated by a need to solve the ubiquitous dust cloud that currently envelops Kuma residents from 15 old tailings dams — relics from the Buffelsfontein and Hartbeesfontein gold mines — says Fin24, which describes the dam in some detail:

For a few years up to 2009, demand for mining equipment finance was strong, but it then declined as companies cut back because of the international financial meltdown. Since the beginning of last year there has been an upswing in the financing of yellow metal assets. Data from WesBank shows that the financing of yellow metals is up 80% year on year, driven mainly by the South African mining sector.

The election of Michael Sata to president of Zambia is not sitting well with copper miners who fear the 73-year-old, known as "King Cobra" for his aggressive style, will pick the pockets of mining companies, Bloomberg reports. Sata swept to power this week on a promise to create jobs and to extract more money from the mining industry in Zambia, Africa's largest copper producer. His win on Sept. 20 ends two decades of rule by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy.

Namakwa Diamonds sold its mining and exploration operations for US$6.25 million to Hall Farm Avenue Limited, the corporate vehicle of a management team lead by the Company’s DRC Country Manager, James Tregenza. Payment will be settled over a 5-year period, with a minimum payment of US$1.25m required in each year during this period.

Helia Resource Corp (TSX-V:HRC) has unearthed a one-kilometre strike zone at its SMP gold project in Tanzania. While artisinal mining has focused on narrow vein surface outcroppings, some containing assays up to 150 g/t gold, the new Chura zone appears to contain one kilometre of mineralization with a 2K-long magnetic anomaly, Helio stated in a news release.

Rio Tinto has shortlisted nine parties in bidding for a South African coal mine that it acquired through its near-$US4billion takeover of Riversdale Mining, and hopes to conclude a sale by the year-end, said Steve Mallyon, a special advisor to the Anglo-Australian miner. Any deal for the Riversdale Anthracite Colliery in KwaZulu Natal province, which is producing about 750,000 tonnes of coal a year, could value the asset at around $US150 million ($149m), he said.

Botswana aims to transform itself into an international hub of the world diamond industry, boosted by a deal in which the De Beers mining and sales empire will transfer the sorting, valuing and selling of rough diamonds from London to Gaborone by the end of 2013. The agreement also provides for Botswana to sell 10 percent of its diamonds independently of De Beers, rising to 15 percent in five years' time. Gaborone's Mmegi newspaper reported Tuesday that all 66 of De Beers' sightholders from around the world are expected to travel to Gaborone at least ten times a year. Africa's failure to add value to resources within their countries of production has long been identified as a major hindrance to the continent's growth.