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Wednesday, August 5, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold miner, says it's eyeing global M&A opportunities and will consider assets that include copper.

Gary Halverson, regional president for Barrick Australia Pacific, says the company is always looking at opportunities.

Last week, Barrick reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly net profit, while the company's chief executive Aaron Regent forecast lower mining costs in the quarters ahead.

Regent said at the time that a combination of lower commodity prices, looser labour markets and new lower-cost mines should reverse a trend of rising costs that has diluted the impact of high gold prices.

Zambia's Baluba copper mine will resume operations in December after its owners complete rehabilitation work and replace obsolete machinery.

Sydney Chileya, the spokesperson for NFC Africa, a subsidiary of China Non-Ferrous Metals Corp, which has control over Baluba mine, says 60-million-dollars will be spent on upgrading the mine.

Baluba is a unit of Luanshya Copper Mine, in which CNMC has an 85% stake. The balance is held by Zambia's state-run ZCCM-IH.

Also making headlines:

The Portuguese government is looking to sell its 49% stake in an Angolan diamond firm.
Platinum producer Northam expects a substantial decline in its 2009 financial year earnings.
George Forrest International finally confirms it has the financing needed to complete its acquisition of Forsys Metals.
And, debt-free copper miner Palabora declares a dividend, while its net cash is up by 400-million-rand.

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