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Monday, July 27, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

South African gold producer Harmony Gold has reported a fatality at its Evander 2 shaft, in Mpumalanga.

The company said that a mineworker was killed at the Number 2 shaft on Friday, as a result of injuries sustained during a fall-of-ground incident.

Harmony spokesperson Esha Brijmohan said that operations at the shaft had been suspended following the accident. Management and representatives from the Department of Mineral Resources had launched an investigation on Friday.

Although no Section 54 notice was issued, Brijmohan said that Harmony had decided to suspend operations at the shaft, until a risk assessment had been completed, and the shaft had been declared safe.

It was estimated that two days of production would be lost.

Two workers at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold's mine, in Indonesia's Papua province, are among seven detained on suspicion of involvement in recent attacks in which an Australian man died.

It is believed to be the first time workers at the mine have been detained in connection with the attacks.

The Australian, a technical expert employed at the giant Grasberg mine, was killed earlier this month and a security guard died and others were wounded in subsequent shootings.

The mine, about 3 400 km east of Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, has been a frequent source of friction over its environmental impact, the share of revenues going to Papua and the legality of payments to Indonesian security forces who help guard the site.

Also making headlines:

Angloplat's headline earnings fall 95%.
Tanzania has 54-million pounds of uranium deposits, which it expects to start mining by 2011.
Non-governmental organisations help the world tribunal to uphold human rights in South Africa's mining legislation.
And, TSX-listed Adriana may partner with a Chinese firm on its Canadian and Brazilian projects.

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