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Wednesday, July 29, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

Leading diversified miner BHP Billiton has agreed on iron-ore prices that were 33 and 44% lower than last year for 23% of its total iron-ore volumes.

BHP Billiton said that terms had been agreed with a range of iron-ore customers for the 2009 contract year. The company said that the settlements were indicative of "continued progress towards transparent market pricing".

The terms varied and reflected the specific requirements of each customer, which was consistent with BHP's marketing approach.

On Tuesday, London-listed Randgold Resources said that it was beginning a global offering of five-million new ordinary shares and reported a 45% rise in profits for the quarter to June 30.

The Randgold share offer announcement follows its proposal to buy Moto Goldmines, and this week's declaration that its bid is "superior" to that of rival Moto suitor, Red Back Mining.

Should the company enter into a definitive agreement to acquire Moto, some of the proceeds of the offer could be used to fund the development of Moto's large gold project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Also making headlines:

South African coal and gold companies agree to two-year wage deals.
US coal producer Patriot Coal is "cautiously optimistic" that it's reached the bottom for coal.
Papua New Guinea stops the construction of the Ramu nickel project owing to safety concerns.
And, gold and copper miner Northgate Minerals has terminated talks with Dioro Exploration.

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