South African gold producers make new wage offer to unions

IAMGOLD announced that employees at the Company's Essakane Mine in Burkina Faso are back at work and that the mine has resumed operation. Negotiations are to resume immediately with the intent to resolve all issues within the next 60 days.

IAMGOLD Corporation reported its unaudited consolidated financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011. Net earnings were $162.3 million ($0.41 per share), an increase of $102.1 million compared to the first quarter of 2010, and operating cash flow was $205.8 million ($0.55 per share1), representing an increase of 177% from the first quarter of 2010. "Our strong first quarter results reflect our focused strategy to maximize the value of mines that we own and operate," said Steve Letwin, IAMGOLD's President and CEO. "Attributable gold production was up 41% year-over-year driven chiefly by the inclusion of Essakane along with higher recoveries at Rosebel. We continue to benefit from higher gold prices and are implementing various initiatives to reduce our cash costs."

Africa's biggest gold miner AngloGold Ashanti (ANGJ.J: Quote) reported a return to profit in the first quarter on Wednesday following its hedge-book buy back and said it expects higher output in the current three months. AngloGold said adjusted headline earnings per share for the January-March quarter were 53 U.S. cents compared to a loss of 199 cents in the previous one after it had eliminated its hedge book last year to reap the full benefit of record gold prices.

Adamus Resources Limited (ASX: ADU) is pleased to announce the Nzema Gold Project in Ghana, West Africa has achieved commercial production effective 1 April 2011.

Canada’s First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO:Quote) reported a 37 percent rise in its first-quarter profit, as declines in copper production were more than […]

Taipei Times reports: Brazilian mining giant Vale opened a new US$1.7 billion coal mine in Mozambique yesterday, tapping the southern African country’s thermal and coking coal reserves of about 23 billion tonnes. Vale plans to start production in July and export 1 million tonnes of coal from the US$1.7 billion project this year, ramping up production to 11 million tonnes in a few years — and, local officials hope, boosting Mozambique’s current economic growth of 6.5 percent.

De Beers announced that it will sell the Namaqualand diamond mine in South Africa to Trans Hex for 225 million Rand ($33.5 million). The sale joins a number of low producing diamond mines the company has sold in South Africa in the past few years. No details about the transaction were made available, and it’s not clear if this is a cash-only agreement. The timeline of the agreement is not known either, though in the past the approval of the South African government was needed, which may determine the ownership transfer.

Following the approval by Wesizwe shareholders in March 2011 of the total mine development financing solution offered by the Chinese consortium of Jinchuan, CAD Fund and Micawber, TWP Projects, a Basil Read Group company, has submitted a full EPCM proposal to the company for the new twin vertical shafts (the Main and Ventilation Shafts), a new plant and all surface infrastructure at its Frischgewaagd-Ledig Complex near Rustenburg, South Africa.

De Beers Consolidated Mines ("DBCM") today announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell Namaqualand Mines to Trans Hex in a transaction valued at R225 million. The agreement to sell the mine to Trans Hex follows an open and rigorous selection process that evaluated prospective bidders on a number of criteria determined by DBCM as critical to ensuring the long-term sustainability of Namaqualand Mines community.