Friday, October 31, 2008.

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

Making headlines today:

AngloGold Ashanti CEO Mark Cutifani said that gold production was "in crisis". He said a gold price of 900 to 1 000 dollars an ounce was needed to arrest the downward trend.

Cutifani said that the world had seen a decline in the production of gold across the globe in the past seven years. He said that the industry could experience another decline of production at up to 5% a year for the next five years.

There had been a 20 to 30% production decline in South Africa in the last five years and grades are continuing to diminish in opencast mines around the world.

He said that lack of production would result in gold's fundamentals improving.

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Diamond giant De Beers has announced the successful conversion of seven of its old-order mining rights to new-order mining rights. This is under the provisions of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act.

The licenses converted were for the Finsch mine, Buffels Marine, Buffels Inland, Dikgat, Brand-se-Baai, and Koingnaas. A new right application was also granted for the Verdun area, which formed part of the Namaqualand mines, in the Northern Cape.

Conversions for the Venetia mine, in the Limpopo province, had also now been executed.

De Beers Consolidated Mines MD David Noko said the company was pleased that it had received the eight rights. He said the company was encouraged by the assistance it had received from the Department of Minerals and Energy.

Also making headlines:

Thousands of people protest as Peru cuts its mining royalties.
Vancouver-based gold-miner Great Basin Gold wins a mining right for its Burnstone mine in South Africa.
US iron-ore company Cliffs Natural Resources expects the recession to last at least a year.
And, platinum producer Lonmin reports a 15,8% decline in full-year output.

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