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Tuesday, October 28, 2008.

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

Making headlines today:

On Monday, Kalahari Resources chairperson Daphne Mashile-Nkosi said that, with the Kalagadi manganese project now in the development phase, shareholders had already started seeing the benefits of investing in the project.

Mashile-Nkosi said that the shareholders, which included mostly historically disadvantaged South Africans and women's groups, had each been given a share of 223,7-million rand.

This was following steel giant ArcelorMittal's acquisition of a 50% stake in the project at a purchase price of 432,5-million dollars. About 1,8-billion rand was paid to Kalahari Resources.

Mashile-Nkosi noted its deal with ArcelorMittal had meant that wealth was being created for black economic-empowerment groups and individuals, while also being a "mechanism to protect [the company] from further dilution".

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On Monday, trade union Solidarity issued a warning to platinum producer Anglo Platinum to investigate mining safety at the company's mines. This was following the death of the sixteenth Angloplat worker this year.

Angloplat spokesperson Simon Tebele said that the fatality was caused by an underground electrocution at the company's Turffontein mine, outside Rustenburg. "The shaft is now closed and a full investigation is under way to identify the cause of the accident."

Tebele noted that as the investigations were at a preliminary stage, no further information could be given about the nature of the accident. The team investigating the incident included members of the union, as well as representatives from the Department of Minerals and Energy.

Also making headlines:

The Australian government rules that BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto must share rail infrastructure.
Australia's Fortescue Metals Group defers some of its iron-ore expansion spending.
Vancouver-based Cardero Resources will sell its iron-ore project to a Chinese firm for 200-million dollars.
And, Aim-listed TanzaniteOne issues shares and dilutes Gemfields' bid.

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