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Wednesday, May 20, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

Diversified miner Xstrata has suspended all underground mining operations at its George Fisher zinc mine, in Mount Isa, Australia, for 24 hours, following a fatal accident on Tuesday night.

Xstrata Zinc Mount Isa executive GM Kevin Hendry said that a full investigation had started in order to identify the cause of the accident. The investigation would be done in conjunction with the police and other regulatory authorities.

Hendry said that counselling support for those directly and indirectly involved had also been arranged.

The George Fisher operation produces some 3,1-million tons of ore a year.

On Wednesday, the Australian newspaper reported that global miner Rio Tinto may replace the 7,2-billion-dollar convertible bond part of its tie-up plan with Chinalco with a capital raising underwritten by the Chinese firm.

The paper said that Rio is believed to have told state-owned Chinalco that talks with Rio shareholders have brought demands for changes to the planned 19,5-billion-dollar tie-up.

The report is the latest in a series saying that Rio may be considering changes to the Chinalco deal. The speculation has come as Rio chairman Jan Du Plessis meets shareholders to discuss the deal, which was designed to help Rio pay down half its 38-billion-dollars in debt.

However, Rio Tinto spokesperson Amanda Buckley said that the company didn't comment on market rumour or speculation.

Chinalco hasn't indicated that it's happy to compromise on the deal, but is thought to be resigned to changing the terms of the bonds but doesn't want any change to the part of the deal that gives it stakes in Rio mining assets.

Also making headlines:

Sam Jonah quits as Sentula Mining chairperson.
One worker is confirmed dead, with another missing at Gold Fields' Kloof mine.
Brazil is trying to forge an alliance with African and South American countries to defend seabed mining rights.
And, China's steelmakers haven't given any ground in benchmark iron ore price talks.

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