Russia’s Nornickel terminates agreement with Botswana’s BCL on asset sale

The future of about 160 workers at BK11 diamond mine in Botswana is in the balance after UK-based owner, Firestone Diamonds (LON:FDI), suspended operations yesterday.

An Australian explorer said today that one of Africa’s most prolific uranium plays is shaking off the tag that it was the uranium province that was missed and is starting to emerge as a potentially significant greenfields province.

London’s AIM-listed Bellzone Mining announced this morning that its Forécariah joint venture project in Guinea has received approval to complete the first blast at Yomboyeli, allowing Bellzone to kick off iron-ore production by the end of the first quarter this year.

Banro's Twangiza oxide mine poured its first gold Q4 2011and it owns four additional licences along the same rich gold belt in the east of the country. After bumping up its debt offering to $175 million on Friday the company says it can now start building a second oxide mine.

Shares in Newmont Mining was down 2.7% on Friday after the company announced a $1.6 billion charge after mothballing its Hope Bay project in northern Canada.

Shares in Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (LON, ASX: AQP), the fourth- largest producer of the metal, dropped 11% this morning in Johannesburg, the deepest decline since October 2008, after the company announced that Zimbabwe has rejected a joint proposal with Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (PINK:IMPUY) to meet local ownership rules.

Mining and processing rare earths is a tricky business. Processing the materials is costly, and the supply of the 17 elements used in manufacturing everything from smart phones to electric cars and missile guidance systems is pretty much sewn up by China, which has 95% of the production.

In what is being regarded as the first major African mining play by a Chinese company, China Minmetals succeeded Friday in closing its $1.3 billion bid for copper miner Anvil Mining.

The Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines says the government's hike of pre-exploration fees for the majority of minerals – by as much as 8,000% – together with increased royalty rates will cripple the industry.