Friday, May 29, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Philippa Levenberg.

Making headlines today:

World Federation of Diamond Bourses president Avi Paz said that diamond prices and sales appear to be stabilising.

He said that the diamond industry was resilient and would survive the global economic crisis. It would, however, be important for the industry to consider how it would conduct itself in a recovering market.

Paz noted that times of upheaval, while clearly complicated, also presented opportunities for positive change, and the current crisis was no exception.

He said that this was a "golden chance" for the industry to correct two standard operating procedures, namely memo sales and the extension of inordinately lengthy payment terms with clients. He said that these have "placed a tremendous burden" on WFDB members and have had a "devastating effect" on profitability.

On Thursday, the Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi warned that South African mineworkers would face even harsher times over in the coming months as job losses were expected to accelerate in the next quarter.

Vavi said that the mining sector was expected to start "shedding jobs all round", as the weak demand for commodities puts resource companies under pressure.

He said that there were predictions that almost one-million workers in South Africa would lose their jobs this year, far more than the initial forecast of 250 000. This means that unemployment would rise drastically.

During the first quarter of 2007, the mining sector's output grew by 4,2%, while the level of employment grew by 8,8%. However, during the fourth quarter of 2008, the mining sector declined by 5%, while employment grew by only 4%.

Also making headlines:

Australia's Bannerman raises 30-million-Australian-dollars to advance its Namibian uranium project.
Pamodzi Gold's provisional liquidation is extended to the first of September.
Canada's second-biggest miner, Goldcorp, won't sell shares to bolster the company's balance sheet.
And, South African manganese producer Assmang will retrench workers at its Northern Cape manganese mine.

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