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Monday, March 9, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

Rio Tinto isn't planning to delay construction of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mining project in Mongolia. The company denied media reports that it was considering such a move with joint venture partner Ivanhoe Mines.

An Australian newspaper reported on Monday that Rio had warned that construction of the 3-billion-dollar project may proceed at a slower pace that planned even if the Mongolian government signs a long-awaited investment agreement within days.

However, Rio CEO Tom Albanese said in a statement that Rio Tinto remained fully committed to the Oyu Tolgoi copper gold project in Mongolia.

He said that Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines have spent more than 1-billion-dollars on the project to date. Underground construction has continued while the company awaits the finalisation of the Ivanhoe agreement.

Albanese said Oyu Tolgoi remained one of the "most attractive undeveloped copper-gold projects in the world. He added that additional construction stages would be planned carefully, including reviewing costs in the current economic conditions.

On Friday, Aflease CEO Neal Froneman said that the pumping crisis reported by Pamodzi Gold held no immediate or even short-term threat to either the safety of Aflease Gold employees nor to the company's mining operation at Sub Nigel. He also said that there was no threat whatsoever to the company's Modder East operations.

Froneman said that gold mining at Sub Nigel currently took place 150 m above the level at which the Grootvlei mine would start flooding should cash-strapped Pamodzi Gold stop pumping water out of Grootvlei.

If flooding did take place, the water would rise at an estimated rate of 300 mm a day. It would take more than a year for the water to reach the level at which the company was currently mining. This was a risk that had been factored into the scale of the recommissioning operation.

Froneman said that the miner's flagship project, Modder East, wasn't associated at all with the East Rand Basin and was therefore not at risk.

He said that Sub Nigel was interconnected into the East Rand Basin, but that has always been known and understood and that's why the company has gone back into Sub Nigel in a limited way.

Also making headlines:

Vancouver-based Rockwell Diamonds CEO John Bristow says diamond juniors must merge to stay on the map.
Guinea's military junta demands that four former mines ministers repay more than 5-million-dollars it says they embezzled from the state.
Debt-laden Rio Tinto disposes of yet another asset.
And, Perth-based Albidon receives a default notice after the Munali nickel project closure.

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