South Africa’s gold miners look at mergers to stay afloat

Century Iron Mines, an iron ore miner with projects in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, has reached a $120 million development deal with WISCO Resources, one of the third largest steel producer in China. WISCO Resources, which holds an approximate 25% interest in Century Iron, will invest $120 million in exchange for a 40% interest in three of Century Iron Mines' projects, Duncan Lake, Attikamagen and Sunny Lake. Funds will be used for exploration and development. WISCO Resources is a major subsidiaries of Wuhan Iron & Steel Corporation, headquartered in Wuhan in the province of Hubei in the People's Republic of China.

Mining technology specialist Maptek unveiled the new I-Site 8400 laser scanner at Intergeo in Germany at the end of September.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is drafting new standards for the gold industry which will raise the entry barriers and it will force companies with daily gold processing capacity of less than 50 tons to shut down. Citing unidentified sources who attended a national gold mining conference, the industry ministry is drawing up a blueprint to better regulate gold miners, such as shutting mines with a daily gold processing capacity of below 100 tonnes and halting approvals for small ore processing companies. China, the world's largest bullion producer, currently has no limits on gold production and production is determined by the gold producers.

Barrick Gold says it will fight for the right to develop a gold project in Pakistan after a provincial government rejected its lease application earlier this month. Canadian Press reports that Tethyan Copper, a partnership between Canada-based Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) and Chile-based Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) has filed for international arbitration after the Balochistan government turned down its application without meeting with the companies.

An angry dispute over a proposed massive gold and copper mine in B.C.'s central Interior has set off duelling requests for court injunctions against the opponents.

It's not often that a junior mining company has star power in its corner. Black Iron (TSE:BKI) was busy fielding media calls Monday when the Toronto-based company announced it has retained celebrated CNN talk show host Larry King to help raise the profile of the company. Black Iron owns the Shymanivske project in Ukraine, an NI 43-101 compliant resource with 345 Mt measured and indicated resources grading 32% iron and 469 Mt of inferred resources grading 31% iron. The project is surrounded by five other operating mines including ArcelorMittal's iron ore complex.

For the third time this year, workers at the Collahuasi mine in Chile are on strike. The union representing the world's third largest copper mine is accusing management of reneging on agreements that ended a work stoppage in October, AFP reports. Production was paralyzed on July 30 and October 29 when workers downed tools. Collahuasi is owned by Switzerland’s Xstrata and Britain-based Anglo American. Reuters reports Collahuasi produced 504,000 tonnes of copper in 2010, when output was hit by a month-long strike. The mine expects to produce 500,000 tonnes of copper this year. It supplies roughly 3% of the world’s copper.

The Pebble Mine copper-gold-moly project in Southwestern Alaska got hit with another negative poll last week. The Huffington Post reports that 81% of the roughly 2000 shareholders of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation — the regional Native corporation and largest private landholder in southwest Alaska — have rejected the mine on the basis that it will "unavoidably put at risk the 'fisheries and our Native way of life.'" The project is a partnership between Anglo American (LON:AAL) and Northern Dynasty Minerals (NYSEAMEX:NAK).

Brazilian mining conglomerate Vale, the world's leading iron producer, reduced its spending budget by 11 percent for 2012 in the face of an uncertain outlook for the global economy and commodities prices. In a statement released today, the Rio de Janeiro-based company plans to invest $21.4 billion on mining projects next year after failing to meet spending targets in 2011.