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Thursday, November 5, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon de Ryhove.

Making headlines today:

JSE-listed top-forty company Exxaro is involved with coal-based development plans in the Waterberg coalfield, worth at least 30-billion-rand.

The development plans embrace three new coal mines and downstream activities including the planned second phase of a char plant, a possible market coke plant and a cogeneration plant.

These developments, in the fast-growing Lephalale, are over-and-above the 120-billion-rand Medupi power station, being built by Eskom.

Some 10-billion-rand-plus is being estimated as the likely cost of the new greenfield Thabametsi openpit coal mine and beneficiation complex.

Zimbabwe's federation of small-scale miners says the government should consider re-allocating chrome claims along the country's Great Dyke in a manner that should result in a shareholding ratio of 80% indigenous and 20% foreign corporate ownership, to break the monopoly enjoyed by two foreign companies in the concession areas.

The call comes in the wake of a government order which cancelled the earlier ban on the export of chrome, chrome fines and other specified chrome products.

A statement from the Mines and Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe said the lifting of the ban was to pave way for a revival of the chrome sector and a window of opportunity for small scale chrome miners who were hard hit by the ban to re-establish direct contacts with their customers.

Also making headlines:

A union may strike at Peru's Antamina copper pit.
Gold Fields targets 1-million-ounces from South America by 2015.
Base-metals miner HudBay Minerals sees a decision on its Guatemala nickel project in mid-2010.
And, Toronto-based Yamana Gold isn't planning to buy or sell mines.

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