Tina Weaving

Consulting engineering company, SRK, raised the risk that South Africa’s platinum firms may start to run short of water next year if the country’s drought persisted.

Shanta Gold, said it was confident of taking gold production to 85,000 ounces/year over the next five years whilst it sought new exploration targets.

Beleaguered miner plans to raise around $770-million in debt and equities while closing shafts and shedding around 6000 jobs in an effort to cut costs.

Diamonds will continue to propel Botswana’s economy for only two more decades while attempts to diversify have been met with logistical and economic problems.

Zimbabwe recently delayed 15% levy on unbeneficiated platinum – the latest example of policy confusion and foot-changing in southern African country.

Neal Froneman, CEO of Sibanye Gold, said the company was “committed to doing something with Amplats” but he was unsure what the outcome would be.

Gemfields is a rare beacon of light and hope when it comes to fortunes in the global mining sector with sales for coloured gemstones on the rise.

If Africa’s mineral rich continents need a lesson of how not to tackle regulatory change in their mining sectors, look no further than Zambia.

Zambia is the latest of southern Africa’s mining giants to set down beneficiation plans at a time when prices, policy and power worry investment prospects.

The popular vote applauded Nersa’s decision to turn down Eskom’s tariff hike application, but economists wonder if it wasn’t a wrong turn.

The so-called “spirit of co-operation and understanding” between government and the South African mining industry has been shown to be a hollow claim.

Labour in South African mining will most likely be as complex and fraught in 2015 as this year, analysts say with AMCU and NUM taking centre stage.

Ngoako Ramatlhodi, South Africa’s mines minister, had his wings clipped early by the ruling party in a year that could set the tone for the rest of his tenure.

In a spectacularly ironic nod to the colonisers old and new, you can choose to be directed in either English and Chinese at Zimbabwe’s Harare airport.

The business climate in Zimbabwe has been described as crazy, confused and unpredictable. Yet somehow mining firms that stay there seem to make it work.