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Thursday, October 16, 2008.

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

Making headlines today:

Coal development company Coal of Africa Limited has applied for a new-order mining right for its Vele coking coal project, in South Africa's Limpopo province.

The company plans to build a five-million-tons-a-year opencast mine, which will deliver coal for both the domestic and export markets.

The project has an estimated resource of 441-million tons, of which more than 133-million tons are in the measured category.

Webber Wentzel natural resources and regulatory practice group head Peter Leon said South Africa's Minister of Minerals and Energy might have acted unlawfully by exempting State-owned African Exploration Mining & Finance Corporation from key licensing provisions of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.

Leon described the move as "legally offensive" and said that it sent "quite the wrong signals to investors in the midst of global financial turmoil".

He was referring to the State-owned African Exploration Mining & Finance Corporation being permitted to prospect, mine or bulk sample for any minerals, without applying for any right, permit or permission, if it does so for the purposes of security of supply.

Also making headlines:

Base metals tumble on worries of a recession.
US aluminium producer Alcoa says it is confident of getting its Rio Tinto stake back.
The Democratic Republic of Congo mines review dossier will go to a new cabinet.
And, the Zambian central bank says the global financial crisis threatens Zambian copper exports.

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