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Wednesday, October 29, 2008.

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

Making headlines today:

African Exploration Mining & Finance Corporation CEO Sizwe Madondo said that South Africa's new State-owned mining company was pursuing coal and uranium opportunities.

Madondo said that drilling results in an Mpumalanga coalfield were expected before the end of December. He said steps were simultaneously being taken to secure State-held uranium rights in the Northern Cape.

He said the pursuit of coal stemmed from the State-owned Central Energy Fund inheriting coal mineral rights from the previous government. AEMFC is part of the CEF. The pursuit of uranium is a consequence of the South African government declaring uranium a national strategic resource.

If drilling results firmed up a coal resource and reserve, AEMFC would proceed with a bankable feasibility study into the building of a coal-mine.

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South African gold-miner Simmer & Jack Mines has started the leaching process at its Mpumalanga-based subsidiary, Transvaal Gold Mining Estates' new heap leach pad at Elandsdrift this week.

On Wednesday, the company reported that the leaching process at the Mpumalanga-based mine started on Monday, a few days ahead of schedule.

Simmers received permission to start mining activities on October the 2nd, and aimed to commission the pad at the end of the month.

Also making headlines:

A rights issue is to see Australian nickel-miner Minara Resouces through the hard times.
Platinum producer Aquarius Platinum posts a loss and closes a shaft as platinum group metal prices fall.
Kazakhstan miners cut their output as the crisis hits demand.
And, Russian miner Norilsk Nickel's buyback offer is oversubscribed.

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