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Tuesday, February 3, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

On Monday, the plan to merge JCI and Randgold & Exploration failed, when a third of JCI shareholders voted against the scheme.

Both JCI and R&E in the past operated under the leadership of the controversial, deceased mining magnate, Brett Kebble.

Senior counsel Vincent Maleka, who was appointed to act as chairperson by an order of court, declared that the scheme had been agreed by fewer than the 75% votes required in terms of section 311 of the Companies Act.

"One of the conditions has not been fulfilled and therefore the scheme has lapsed," Maleka said.

On Monday, South Africa's Minister of Minerals and Energy, Buyelwa Sonjica, released the long-awaited national Mine Safety Audit. The audit was ordered by past President Thabo Mbeki to investigate compliance with safety regulations in mines across all sectors.

The average compliance across all sectors was found to be at 66%, with some sectors performing better than others.

Gold-mining operations scored an overall 70%, as did the coal sector. Platinum mines were found to be 67% compliant, followed by diamond-mining with an average 66%, and ‘other' sectors with an average of 60% compliance.

Sonjica said that the audits indicated that there are a lot of gaps in the safety standards in the mining industry. She called on all stakeholders involved in this sector to take the findings and recommendations of the report very seriously.

Also making headlines:

TSX Venture Exchange-listed Century Mining will raise up to 66-million-dollars in gold-based financing.
US iron-ore and coal-miner Cliffs Natural Resources halts production at its West Virginia coal mines.
Vancouver-based MAG Silver suspends its independent valuation process.
And, Canadian junior B2Gold signs a binding agreement to buy Toronto-based Central Sun Mining in an all-share transaction valued at 66,8-million-Canadian-dollars.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit miningweekly.com.