Zambia says audit shows mining firms in arrears to government

More trouble is looming on the horizon for First Quantum Minerals and other companies operating in Zambia.

("Allana" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has intersected two zones of strong potash mineralization in Holes DK-11-32, DK-11-33, and DK-11-34 ("Holes 32, 33,and 34"). All Holes are located southeast of the Musley Deposit, an area targeted to test the extension of the Sylvinite Zone into a gap in the previous drilling pattern.

First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM), is going to court over a disputed labour agreement at its Zambia copper mine, after talks between the company and unions collapsed.

Over 33,000 workers of Harmony Gold Mining (NYSE:HMY), South Africa's third-biggest gold producer, will be owners of direct shares in the company thanks to its employee share ownership plan (ESOP), announced CEO Graham Briggs today.

South Africa's Impala Platinum Holdings (Implats), the world’s second-largest platinum producer by volume, has agreed to transfer 51% of Zimplats, its subsidiary in Zimbabwe, after long-drawn-out negotiations with the government of that country.

Once the world's biggest gold producer by a huge margin, South Africa's gold production is continuing to dive with an 11.3% fall year on year in January, following an 8.2% drop in December.

Caledonia, worth $57 million on the TSX, is up 35% so far this year and ten times the usual volume of 131,000 shares changed hands on Monday.

The government of Botswana has established a new diamond trading company that will be responsible for the purchasing, selling and marketing of the state’s portion of Debswana Diamond’s production.

Serial mega-mine developer Robert Friedland said in early February that Ivanplats will be developing the Kamoa mine in the DRC, Africa’s largest copper project that will have a lifespan that can be “measured in generations as opposed to decades.”