PLANS to build a 62,000 ton a year (Mt/y) copper mine in Botswana’s Kalahari copperbelt received a boost after US private equity company, Resource Capital Fund (RCF), took up an 11.9% stake in the venture worth $70m. “The introduction of RCF brings a further industry leading investor into our financing group,” said Johan Ferreira, CEO… Read More

UNSCHEDULED maintenance hit output at Kumba Iron Ore in South Africa and subdued trading conditions for De Beers partly informed a significant reduction in diamond sales, but Anglo American kept sales steady, especially in the higher priced commodities. “We remain broadly on track overall to deliver this full year’s production targets, with an increase to… Read More

CENTAMIN, a UK-listed gold producer operating the Sukari gold mine in Egypt, said second quarter production was 117,913 ounces, taking half-year production to 234,096 oz. Sukari has been an under-performing asset of late having missed guidance over the last 18 months, but Centamin CEO, Andrew Pardey, said today that full-year output of up to 520,000… Read More

SHANTA Gold was “comfortably on track” to hit full year gold production guidance of up to 84,000 ounces from its New Luika Gold Mine in Tanzania after registering 19,856 oz in second quarter production, taking the half-year number to 42,230 oz. The company also continued to make in-roads on debt. Eric Zurrin, CEO of Shanta Gold,… Read More

PERSEUS Mining brought the curtain down on a successful production year for 2019 in which it also made important advances in balance sheet management ahead of the 2020 commissioning of the $265m Yaouré project in Côte d’Ivoire. Fourth quarter production – which is generated from its Edikan and Sissingué gold mines – came in at 64,125 ounces… Read More

SOUTH32 delivered higher-than-revised manganese production from its South African assets, completing a strong finish to its 2019 financial year with similar performances at its aluminium, metallurgical and silver and lead operations. The group also said it was edging towards finalising the sale of its South African thermal coal mines – with an update due by… Read More

THE High court in South Africa will deliver judgement on Vedanta Resources’ efforts to drive its joint venture partner, ZCCM-IH to the negotiating table over the disputed Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) on July 26 (next Friday). Vedanta applied for an interdict stopping ZCCM-IH from winding-up KCM. The ZCCM-IH contends that Vedanta fell foul of Zambian… Read More

MINING firms in Zimbabwe have been told to pay for electricity using foreign currency, said Bloomberg News citing the southern African country’s energy minister, Fortune Chasi. However, mining companies can make their own arrangements to import foreign power, the minister said. “The purpose of the structure is to ensure mining entities have sufficient power,” said… Read More

BARRICK Gold said its Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) gold mine, Kibali, which it owns in joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti, was on course for production of 750,000 ounces in the current financial year. However, Barrick CEO, Mark Bristow, continued to express concern about the newly promulgated DRC mining code which he said would put… Read More

THE Government of Tanzania (GoT) upped the ante on Acacia Resources, the UK-listed gold miner with which it is locked in a two-year, $190bn tax claim. The East African government today ordered Acacia to cease operations at a tailings storage facility (TSF) at the North Mara mine. This came even as Acacia applied for a stay… Read More

IMPALA Platinum (Implats) has taken the gap provided by improved platinum group metal (PGM) pricing to close early some $250m in convertible bonds in a development that helps significantly improve the look of the firm’s balance sheet. South Africa’s PGM sector is highly cash generative with estimates that some R33bn could be generated in free… Read More

At a time when most people would be thinking about winding down, geologist Mark Bristow took Randgold Resources, the company he’d built up over 20 years, and merged it with Barrick Gold. The ink was barely dry when he attempted another block-buster merger with Newmont. He reflects on 12 breathtaking months with DAVID McKAY. WEDNESDAY,… Read More

ENVIRONMENTAL and social governance (ESG) has, for a long time, been a woolly issue for the mining industry. Chiefly because there were no hard and fast rules on how to implement ESG policies, nor any penalties for failing to do so, many mining companies felt they could legitimately ignore calls to ensure their operations were ethical… Read More

THE improvement in the rand basket price of platinum group metals (PGM) would help propel Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) to interim headline earnings of R7bn to R7.7bn – an increase as high as 128% year-on-year. Commenting in a trading update today issued on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Amplats added that a stock count adjustment gain of… Read More

Glencore is in the pound seats when it comes to dominating in the metals and minerals the modern world needs, and – according to environmentalists – some of the minerals it doesn’t, such as coal. It may be corporate positioning par excellence, but with it come challenges, writes CHARLOTTE MATHEWS. FEW things excite a dyed-in-the-wool… Read More

CONDITIONS for mining companies in Zimbabwe have improved materially since the new government headed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa came to power, but there are three key issues the country’s miners are still uneasy about. Two of those involve getting the reforms announced publicly by government; in particular, the dropping of the 51% indigenisation ownership requirement… Read More

KHULUBUSE Zuma, nephew of former South African president, Jacob Zuma, is due back in court today on charges of causing environmental damage at Grootvlei, a mine Zuma owned through company, Aurora Empowerment Systems. Aurora’s ex-managing director Zondwa Mandela, late president Nelson Mandela’s grandson, and former executive directors Thulani Ngubane and Raja Zainal Alam Shah also… Read More

AVESORO Resources, a gold miner operating in Burkina Faso and Liberia, said it hoped to make significant in-roads into a previously estimated capital shortfall of between $25m and $30m by dint of the improved dollar gold price and a new mining contract. In terms of the new contract, which was signed with Orkun Group at… Read More

LUCAPA Diamond Company (Lucapa) said it was on track to post an operational profit in its 2019 financial year after its Lulo and Mothae diamond mines achieved production milestones in the firm’s second quarter. Two developments are set to assist the company, it said: these are the arrival of a new mining fleet on the… Read More

ACACIA Mining is seeking clarification regarding the timing of a proposed inspection of its North Mara mine in Tanzania after receiving a letter from the government (GoT). “The letter states that export permits for gold shipments from North Mara will be issued following completion of this inspection,” said Acacia in a statement today. “Acacia is… Read More