Welcome to Mining Weekly. In this podcast, read by Shannon O’Donnell of Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly, we bring you the past week’s top news stories from the mining industry in South Africa and the rest of the world.

In this week’s bulletin:
- BHP Billiton sees Indian demand playing an increasingly important role ,
- Harmony tackles rising costs, and
- African Eagle joins the AltX .

SPOTLIGHT ON THE SUBCONTINENT

The world’s biggest mining group, BHP Billiton, says that although growth in the US has shown moderation over the past year or so, demand from China and India has more than made up for this.

CEO designate Marius Kloppers says BHP Billiton has seen its sales to India increase “dramatically” over the last two years.

Audio clip: BHP Billiton CEO designate Marius Kloppers discusses growth in demand from India

HARMONY GOES BACK TO BASICS

World number-five gold-producer Harmony Gold Mining will have to “ruthlessly” focus on cost cutting as it moves forward, says chairperson Patrice Motsepe.

The firm this week announced a headline loss of one hundred and thirty three cents a share for the June quarter – a three hundred and twenty nine percent decline from the fifty eight cents a share headline earnings posted for the March quarter.

Costs are the company’s biggest concern – having rocketed during the quarter.

This was partly because problems with a software system installed during December and January had resulted in two hundred and fifty million rand in costs that should have been included in the March quarter results, being included in the June quarter.

Harmony’s long-serving chief executive officer Bernard Swanepoel and the company’s financial director have both resigned since the beginning of the month, when news of financial problems at the company surfaced.

Acting CEO Graham Briggs says that the accounting systems problem could take about six months to set right.

ALTX LISTING

Africa-focused exploration company African Eagle Resources has listed fifty three-million shares on Johannesburg’s AltX, in the presence of a live African hawk eagle, as it became the first inward listing of a resources company without any South African assets.

The company was already listed on London’s Alternative invesment market.

The listing was pioneering on two counts, in that it was the first inward listing on the AltX with no local assets or connections, and the first Aim secondary listing on the AltX in which capital wass raised

The company is primarily exploring for gold and copper in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, but also has early stage uranium, nickel and platinum prospects.

On its AltX listing, South African investors held about 30% of the company’s share capital.

Also, in this week’s Mining Weekly magazine, published on Friday, read our cover story on BHP Billiton, as CEO designate Marius Kloppers prepares to take the reigns from Chip Goodyear.

We also report on progress at JSE-listed Teal Exploration & Mining’s wholly owned Otjikoto project, in Namibia.

Finally, don’t miss our feature on pumps.

That’s a round up of this week’s stories on Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly. For more on these and other stories, visit miningweekly.com