Vitol, Trafigura to bid for coal mines once owned by Guptas

Just one week following Anglo American's approval of a $1.7 billion met-coal project in Queensland, the London-listed diversified miner may be shopping for more coal assets.

A total of US$6.4 million obtained Lucara Diamond Corp. for the sale rough diamonds at its second tender of gems recovered from the Mothae mine in Lesotho. The company reported that all 28 lots offered received multiple bids with 7,190 carats garnering an average price of $893 per carat.

Kalahari Minerals (LON:KAH), whose main asset is the Husab uranium project in Namibia, has accepted a cash offer from Chinese Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC) valuing the London-listed company at $993 million.

Brazil's Vale is set to move its first coking coal shipment next week from its Moatize mine in Mozambique, sources told Reuters on Tuesday. This will be the first coking coal shipment, after 3 thermal coal shipments, and is destined for steelmaker ArcelorMittal's South African unit. Vale last month approved a $6 billion expansion of Moatize to double output to 22 million tonnes per year.

Anvil Mining, a copper producer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, announced Wednesday China's Minmetals Resources has extended its $1.3 billion takeover offer for the second time, to January 11 next year. The extension comes as violence and allegations of vote rigging mar the DRC presidential election, for which full results is now only expected later this week. Anvil is also undergoing an audit of its leases with the DRC's state-owned Gecamines.

It is a sad but indisputable fact that in today's mining industry there are countries that still allow labour practices that belong in Dickensian England rather than a modern economy.

Gold Fields Ltd., the fourth-biggest producer of the metal, said Ghana’s plan to raise tariffs on mines and introduce a windfall tax could force it to halt expansion projects worth $1 billion in the country.

Speaking in an interview with MiningWeekly, CEO Mark Bristow said he expected deal making in the junior gold space to continue, as funding sources dry up.

BusinessLive reports Gold Fields, the world's fourth largest gold producer, is not averse to merger and acquisition activity but will not rely on it, said CEO Nick Holland on Monday. The company, which continues to target five million ounces in development or production by 2015, has spent the last two years aggressively growing its production.