We have said previously that Africa is the new land of opportunity for speculators and investors.

Orion's Oskar Lewnowski: "For a long time, metals were driven by financial flows... With those guys out, we are back to fundamentals."

In volume terms Chinese imports of commodities led by iron ore and copper surged 17% in November, the best month in nearly two years.

Johannesburg based engineer and project delivery company DRA Global has commented that it is pleased and proud that its innovative process plant designs have assisted in the recovery of very large diamonds at the Karowe mine of Boteti Mining (Pty) Ltd, a 100% owned subsidiary of Lucara Diamond Corporation.

The job cuts, part of a major overhaul, are far greater than the 53,000 positions the miner said it would cut in July.

Once again the world's second largest mining company has cut its spending forecast for 2016, as iron ore hit new lows.

The Gahcho Kué mine will take in a number of the hundreds of workers laid off at Snap Lake.

Other winners are Clive Johnson and Eira Thomas.

Over the past year, while the U.S. economy has continually missed expectations, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen has assured all who could stay awake during her press conferences that it was strong enough to withstand tighter monetary policy.