Africa Mining – Page 130 – Republic of Mining

Ghana, China Address Rampant Illegal Mining – by Masahudu Kunateh (All Africa.com – December 3, 2015)

December 4, 2015

Accra — The influx of illegal Chinese miners in Ghana is providing a stern test to the decades-old cordial relations between the two countries.

By law, small scale mining is solely preserved for Ghanaians. However, some Chinese miners have defied legislation by extracting gold in the remote parts of the West African country.

This has continued despite ongoing engagements between the two governments to address the issue.

Most of the Asian nationals, working without permits, have been accused of extending their operations into some restricted areas much to the devastation of land, crops, and farms.

Sibanye to forge ahead with platinum acquisitions – by Allan Seccombe (Business Day Live – November 30, 2015)

November 30, 2015

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

SHAREHOLDERS in Sibanye Gold and Aquarius Platinum will early next year decide the fate of two large platinum transactions pursued by SA’s largest domestic gold producer.

Sibanye has launched back-to-back bids for the Rustenburg mines owned by Anglo American Platinum and the whole of Aquarius Platinum, which has the Kroondal mine next to the Rustenburg assets as well as the Mimosa joint venture with Impala Platinum in Zimbabwe.

Sibanye was forging ahead with both deals despite a weaker platinum price since they were unveiled in September and October, said CEO Neal Froneman.

A diamond is forever. Demand, not so much: The strange economics behind a rock’s worth – by Claire Brownell (National Post – November 28, 2015)

November 30, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

A young couple passes an elderly one on a walking path, as an acoustic guitar plays the melody to “Stand By Me.”

The younger woman turns around and smiles. Her fiancé closes his hand around hers, which sparkles with a whopping diamond ring. They look at each other and smile again. “There are two things in the world that last longer than time,” says a voiceover. “Love is one of them. A diamond is forever.”

Just over a week ago, Canada’s Lucara Diamond Corp. announced that it had discovered an 1,111 carat gem-quality diamond in Botswana, the second-largest ever recovered.

Call for De Beers chief to step aside – by Allan Seccombe (Business Day Live – November 26, 2015)

November 27, 2015

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

A PROMINENT diamond industry player has called for De Beers CEO Philippe Mellier to step down and make way for someone who better understands the business.

Martin Rapaport, chairman of the Rapaport Group, has also demanded that De Beers and others drop prices for rough diamonds by up to 50% to save the ailing industry.

The global diamond sector has run into severe problems after years of poor decisions in financing the purchasing of rough diamonds by banks, pricing and production by mining companies, and the way the industry treated easy and abundant finance.

Taking specific aim at De Beers, Mr Rapaport, who analysts describe as highly regarded and influential in the polished segment, said the company, 85%-owned by Anglo American, was inflicting damage on the industry.

Pope: Blood diamonds fuel terrorism (News 24.com – November 27, 2015)

November 27, 2015

http://www.news24.com/

Nairobi – Pope Francis on Thursday urged global action against illegal trafficking of blood diamonds, ivory and other natural resources, saying it caused political instability and “terrorism”.

“Illegal trade in diamonds and precious stones, rare metals or those of great strategic value, wood, biological material and animal products, such as ivory trafficking and the related killing of elephants, fuels political instability, organised crime and terrorism,” he said in a speech in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

“We cannot be silent about forms of illegal trafficking which arise in situations of poverty,” he said, just two weeks before Nairobi hosts a key ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation.

President says Zambia will not take over struggling copper mines – by Chris Mfula (Reuters U.S. – November 26, 2015)

November 27, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LUSAKA – Zambia will not take over mining firms that have shed jobs after a sharp fall in copper prices, President Edgar Lungu said on Thursday, backtracking from an earlier warning that the state would run the mines.

Lungu also said the economy would grow at a slower pace than previously estimated due to the struggling copper industry, but outlined austerity measures to cope with the decline in revenue.

Copper accounts for 70 percent of Zambia’s export earnings, which have been further eroded by a power crisis that forced production to be cut.

Rough diamond bubble bust (Part 1) – by Martin Rapaport (Mineweb.com – November 25, 2015)

November 25, 2015

http://www.mineweb.com/

Artificially high rough diamond prices are going to collapse taking companies and banks with them.

The diamond industry is undergoing fundamental structural change as the rough diamond distribution system self-destructs amid collapsing rough prices. Frankly, it’s good news. Unprofitable, unsustainable and unfair rough prices have been the bane of our industry.

For too many years artificially high rough prices have stolen profits from our trade. The hard-working cutters, polished dealers, jewelry manufacturers, designers and retailers who have honestly added value to diamonds have not received their fair share of diamond profits.

Falling commodity prices in a volatile corner: Why ‘quiet’ Mauritania is being watched closely (Mail and Guardian Africa – November 24, 2015)

November 25, 2015

http://mgafrica.com/

MAURITANIA doesn’t often make the news. It’s mostly desert and sparsely populated – just 3.5 million people for a land area larger than Egypt or Nigeria.

But Mauritania is of strategic importance in the “war on terror” in Africa, on account of its “ungoverned” spaces – as US securocrats see places like the vast Sahara desert – which run the risk of being used as a safe haven or rear base for terror groups.

Last year, the US Africa Command gave Mauritania a $21m pair of military aircraft outfitted with advanced surveillance equipment; cooperation between the two countries has deepened in recent years amid growing threat from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Platinum market deficit set to evaporate in 2016: WPIC – by Jan Harvey (Reuters Africa – November 24, 2015)

November 24, 2015

http://af.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – The platinum market deficit will shrink this year, before moving into a small surplus in 2016 as supply from mining and recycling rises and investment falls, the World Platinum Investment Council said in a report on Tuesday.

While the WPIC does not forecast prices, a move back to near-balance could further pressure platinum, which has suffered a 30 percent drop this year, putting it on track for its biggest annual retreat since 2008.

Mine supply, which rose 20 percent this year as output from major producer South Africa normalised after last year’s five-month miners’ strike, is expected to increase another 2 percent in 2016, largely on the back of gains in Zimbabwe, the WPIC said in its Platinum Quarterly report.

Court dismisses Rio Tinto suit against BSGR, Vale over Guinea iron-ore mine – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – November 24, 2015)

November 24, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

ROME — A New York judge handed Israeli diamond billionaire Beny Steinmetz a rare victory by dismissing Rio Tinto PLC’s claim that he and Brazilian mining giant Vale SA conspired to steal the world’s biggest undeveloped iron ore project, in Guinea, from Rio.

Judge Richard Berman of the U.S. District Court in New York dismissed the civil racketeering case against the defendants on a technicality; he ruled that Rio had waited too long to launch its case, which was filed in 2014.

He agreed with the defendants that the four-year statute of limitations began in 2008, when the Guinean government stripped Rio of half of Guinea’s rich Simandou iron ore deposit and handed it to BSG Resources (BSGR), a company affiliated with Mr. Steinmetz.

Botswana explores a future without sparklers – by Alex Vines (Business Day Live – November 23, 2015)

November 23, 2015

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

BOTSWANA is world-renowned for two things: awe-inspiring game parks and diamonds. But unlike its timeless natural beauty, the diamonds are not forever. Botswana needs to prepare for an economic future without them.

For years, the government has talked about economic diversification, but in practice little has been done. That’s not to say Botswana has mismanaged its diamond inheritance. It is rightly held up as an example of what can be achieved when natural resources are harnessed responsibly.

I feel this keenly because I spent much of the past decade working as a United Nations (UN) sanctions inspector in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and Angola, trying to stop rebel-controlled “blood diamonds” from contaminating global supply chains.

Rio Tinto’s fight with Vale over massive iron ore mine falls at first hurdle – by Matthew Stevens (Australian Financial Review – November 23, 2015)

November 23, 2015

http://www.afr.com/

How apt that a failed racketeering case by World Wrestling Entertainment sets a critical benchmark in a New York court’s refusal to allow Rio Tinto to continue its case for criminal damages against fellow iron ore major Vale and its allies in Guinean grubbiness.

Others tarred by Rio’s sensational racketeering allegations against its Brazilian competitor number an Israeli billionaire, Benny Steinmetz, a former mines minister of Guinea, the third wife of one of its deceased presidents and a bloke who is currently in a Florida jail as a result of bribes paid to her in the US.

The nub of the Rio case was (and will be again given the likelihood of appeal) that Vale “secretly” worked with a Steinmetz company called BSGR to steal rights to two iron ore mining tenements in Guinea.

Vancouver mining executives trapped in their rooms as gunmen stormed Mali hotel – by Laura Kane (Canadian Press/Vancouver Province – November 22, 2015)

November 23, 2015

http://www.theprovince.com/

Two Vancouver businessmen hid silently in their rooms for seven hours as gunmen stormed their hotel in Mali, sending text messages describing the sounds of gunfire and grenades to horrified colleagues in Canada.

The B2Gold Corp. executives were in the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital Bamako when Islamist militants launched the attack Friday morning. Unable to talk on the phone or leave their rooms, the men spent all day reporting what they were hearing through texts and emails, said CEO Clive Johnson.

Johnson was supposed to be on the same trip but had to stay in Vancouver due to knee surgery complications.

Lucara shares surge on discovery of 1,111-carat diamond – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – November 20, 2015)

November 20, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Lucara Diamond Corp.’s stock soared by as much as 37 per cent after the Vancouver miner said it had unearthed the biggest diamond to be found in more than a century.

The 1,111-carat, gem-quality stone is slightly smaller than a tennis ball. It was dug out of Lucara’s Karowe mine in Botswana.

The diamond, the second-largest in history, is one of several giant finds that the company has recently uncovered. Lucara, part of the mining and energy group headed by Lukas Lundin, also reported it had found an 813-carat stone that ranks as the sixth-largest ever discovered.

Fed hike could knock gold price down to $1 000/oz – Gold Fields – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – November 19, 2015)

November 19, 2015

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A raising of US interest rates in December could knock gold back to a level of $1 000/oz, Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland said on Thursday.

The US Federal Reserve sent out new signals on Wednesday that officials would raise interest rates in December as long as job growth and inflation trends did not take a turn for the worse, and on Thursday the South African Reserve Bank lifted South Africa’s interest rates by 25 basis points to 6.25%.

At a media roundtable attended by Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online on Gold Fields’ results for the three months to September 30, Holland was answering journalists questions against the background of gold tumbling to a near six-year low of $1 064/oz this week. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video).