South Africa platinum strike damage irreversible, losses close to $1bn

Russia's biggest gold miner Polyus Gold (PLZL.MM: Quote), KazakhGold KZJq.L and the Assaubayev family have settled all legal claims brought against the Assaubayevs, all parties said on Monday.

The US$89 million shares-and-cash acquisition of Estonia's AS Silmet by Colorado's Molycorp means both rare earth companies "will be able to take advantage of the very robust price situation in the market right now," Molycorp CEO Mark Smith said during a conference call with analysts Monday.

Kinross Gold, recently cashed up from its stake sale in Harry Winston Diamond Corp., has now agreed to pay $350 million for full ownership of the Kupol mine in Russia. The mine would account for about 17% of Kinross' gold equivalent production in 2011. Reuters reports: Gold miner Kinross Gold Corp. said it signed an agreement to buy the stake it does not already own in Chukotka Mining and Geological Co for about $350 million, giving it full ownership of the Russian mining company.

Using a gold price of $1,000 per ounce, the Kumtor open-pit LOM plan has been used to project the net cash flow for the open pit operations for the period of January 1, 2011 to 2021. Total gross revenue from the sale of gold and minor silver credits are estimated to be nearly $5.0 billion while direct operating costs are estimated to be $1.9 billion or $385 per recovered ounce of gold produced.

EMED announced that the provincial government of Andalucia has unblocked the process required to grant the mineral rights for the Rio Tinto Mine to EMED Tartessus, the company’s wholly-owned Spanish subsidiary. Further, the government has made a decision on the tailings dam issue and ruled that EMED will assume formal responsibility for its maintenance and operation.

Moscow - OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (the Company) announces today that RUSAL has once again failed gain an injunction through court. The Krasnoyarsk Territory arbitration court has rejected the request for an injunction in a lawsuit brought by RUSAL against OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel. The suit challenged the divestment of the OGK-3 generating company for a stake in Inter RAO.

The East African reports that the Russian state-owned nuclear energy firm JSC Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ) is shelving a plan to acquire the $1.16 billion Mkuju Uranium assets in Southern Tanzania over the recent Japanese nuclear plant crisis. The move comes a month after the Russian firm obtained a take-over approval from the government of Tanzania under the Fair Competition Act 2003. The Tanzanian government had said that it would start higher grade uranium mining in early 2012 at Mkuju River following the completion of the feasibility study and the approval of environmental impact assessment of the area.

Reuters reported that Russian potash miners Uralkali (URKA.MM) and Silvinit (SILV.MM) expect to produce a combined 10.6 million tonnes of potash this year, up from 10.3 million tonnes in 2010.

LONDON – Uneasy markets mean Glencore is likely to put off a decision on whether to push ahead with its flotation until […]