Congo miners buying cobalt from artisanal operators to balance market

A gold explorer finding a million-ounce deposit is quick to say "world class", but when an established gold miner promises single-mine production of 750,000 ounces a year, eyebrows may rise. That's the production target for the Gold Fields South Deep mine in South Africa, an ongoing saga which was given further details by Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland at the recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Metals & Mining Conference, in Barcelona.

African Barrick Gold (ABGL.L) said a malfunction in a mill motor at its Buzwagi mine in Tanzania would hit production in the quarter, sending its shares down as much as 9 percent in early trade on Monday. It estimated the replacement of the motor, which failed after a power outage and attempted restart, would take two weeks, during which time the plant would run at reduced capacity.

In results released on Friday, Australia’s Paladin Energy showed a 47% increase in production from its Namibian and Malawian operations and record revenues of $208.7m on the back of a 31% increase in sales volumes for the nine months to March. The company said despite the concerns about the nuclear energy market following the tsunami damage to Japan’s Fukushima plant, it believes supply and demand imbalances will only widen in future as more plants, such as the 25 under construction in China, come on stream. Paladin is on an aggressive growth drive. Stage 3 of the expansion of its Langer Heinrich mine that would bring capacity to 5.2m lb is 92% complete and in February 2011 the company announced that it completed its acquisition of the uranium assets of Aurora Energy in Labrador, Canada for C$260.8m.

Aureus Mining announced that it has entered into an underwriting agreement for C$35.1 million with a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets and GMP Securities L.P. and including Clarus Securities Inc., Jennings Capital Inc. and Raymond James Ltd., with respect to its previously announced offering of the company’s common shares. Pursuant to the Offering, the Company will issue 27,000,000 common shares at a price of C$1.30 (c.£0.83) per common share and receive aggregate net proceeds of C$32,994,000.

IAMGOLD announced that employees at the Company's Essakane Mine in Burkina Faso are back at work and that the mine has resumed operation. Negotiations are to resume immediately with the intent to resolve all issues within the next 60 days.

IAMGOLD Corporation reported its unaudited consolidated financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011. Net earnings were $162.3 million ($0.41 per share), an increase of $102.1 million compared to the first quarter of 2010, and operating cash flow was $205.8 million ($0.55 per share1), representing an increase of 177% from the first quarter of 2010. "Our strong first quarter results reflect our focused strategy to maximize the value of mines that we own and operate," said Steve Letwin, IAMGOLD's President and CEO. "Attributable gold production was up 41% year-over-year driven chiefly by the inclusion of Essakane along with higher recoveries at Rosebel. We continue to benefit from higher gold prices and are implementing various initiatives to reduce our cash costs."

Africa's biggest gold miner AngloGold Ashanti (ANGJ.J: Quote) reported a return to profit in the first quarter on Wednesday following its hedge-book buy back and said it expects higher output in the current three months. AngloGold said adjusted headline earnings per share for the January-March quarter were 53 U.S. cents compared to a loss of 199 cents in the previous one after it had eliminated its hedge book last year to reap the full benefit of record gold prices.

Adamus Resources Limited (ASX: ADU) is pleased to announce the Nzema Gold Project in Ghana, West Africa has achieved commercial production effective 1 April 2011.

Canada’s First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO:Quote) reported a 37 percent rise in its first-quarter profit, as declines in copper production were more than […]