S.Africa’s AMCU union to expand Sibanye-Stillwater strike to platinum operations

DiamondCorp (LON:DCP), the African diamond mine development and exploration company, will not proceed with further exploration in Botswana due to the recovery of low grades in the area, announced the company today.

Rio Tinto is eager to secure a joint venture with the likely new owners of the huge Husab uranium deposit in Namibia.

Newmont Mining, world number two gold producer, said on Wednesday it has options to spend its capital elsewhere to meet production targets if its $4.8 billion Conga project in Peru does not restart.

Shares in Nevun Resources Ltd. fell off the cliff this morning after the company issued a press release saying its 2012 production estimate from its Bisha copper-gold mine in Eritrea is half of what the mine produced in 2011.

Up to 1.5 million carats worth of diamonds are being auctioned this week by companies allowed to mine the controversial Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe.

The South African government has quashed persistent rumours about nationalizing the country's mining industry.

London- and Nasdaq-listed gold producer Randgold Resources Ltd. (LON:RRS) (NASDAQ:GOLD) stocks went up 3.5 percent after the West Africa-focused miner reported a more than fourfold rise in net profit for the year ended December 2011 due to higher gold prices and a significant increase in production.

South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, appears to be moving away from nationalization of the mining industry to reassure foreign investors but is considering new taxes and "targeted interventions" in the sector, particularly platinum mines.

A new UN report says a US trade adviser appointed by Barack Obama orchestrated a $20 million deal to buy 1,045 pounds of gold in eastern DRC from warlord Bosco Ntaganda, wanted for war crimes since 2006. The botched deal by Houston oil tycoon Dr. Kase Lawal also involved his brother and former basketball star Dikembe Mutombo.