South Sudan awards gold, uranium mining contracts

(Reuters) - South Sudan has awarded two companies exploration licenses for gold and uranium in areas thought to be rich in minerals, an official from the semi-autonomous region said.

British/South African New Kush Exploration and Mining Company and the UK-listed Brinkley Mining Plc paid $5,000 for one-year exploration licenses in the area bordering Kenya.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Congo Immigration Detains Central African Mining Shareholder Rautenbach

(Bloomberg) -- The Democratic Republic of Congo
detained Billy Rautenbach, a shareholder of London-based cobalt
producer Central African Mining & Exploration Co., which is
bidding 943 million pounds ($1.94 billion) for Katanga Mining
Ltd, said Jean-Pierre Ondekane, the central African country's
director general of immigration.

Rautenbach is being held by immigration services in
Lubumbashi, the capital of the southern Katanga Province, where
he was stopped before he could travel on to a Central African
mine, Ondekane said in an interview in the capital, Kinshasa.
Rautenbach was given verbal notice that he was barred from Congo,
because of a request from South Africa for his arrest on fraud
charges, Ondekane said. A copy of the persona non grata decree
signed by Ondekane was sent to Bloomberg.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Japan's Nikkei 225 Rises to Seven-Year High After Machinery Orders Jump

(Bloomberg) -- Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose
to a seven-year high after a government report showed machinery
orders climbed more than forecast in May. Komatsu Ltd. gained.

Energy-related shares including Nippon Mining Holdings Inc.
and Marubeni Corp. also jumped after crude oil surged to the
highest in 10 months last week and metals such as copper and gold
rose.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Western Mining Raises $816 Million in Shanghai at Top of IPO Price Range

(Bloomberg) -- Western Mining Co., a Chinese
producer of zinc, copper and lead, raised 6.2 billion yuan
($816.4 million) from an initial public offering in Shanghai to
raise funds for expansion and pay debt.

The company, based in Xining, Qinghai, sold 460 million new
shares at 13.48 yuan each, it said in a statement today. That's
the top end of the 12 yuan to 13.48 yuan range given July 2. UBS
AG's joint venture in China, UBS Securities Co., arranged the
sale, the first in China for Europe's biggest bank by assets.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Resource nationalism on its way to Africa

(Reuters) - High raw materials prices are emboldening resource-rich African states to drive harder bargains with investors, but governments will not hold the whip hand until they are less dependent on foreign money.

"Resource nationalism is exactly what is happening," Tim Williams, Director of Metals and Mining at Ernst & Young, said.


Read more at Reuters Africa

BHP, Teck, Newmont May Have Reduced Copper Processing Fees, Macquarie Says

(Bloomberg) -- Mining companies, including the
world's largest BHP Billiton Ltd., may have reduced fees paid to
smelters for processing raw material into refined copper under
mid-year contracts, according to Macquarie Bank Ltd.

Some agreements on so-called treatment and refining charges,
or TC/RCs, have been reached by miners, including BHP, Teck
Cominco Ltd. and Newmont Mining Corp., the bank said in a report
today. Miners may have lowered fees from previous settlements,
and either excluded or limited ``price-participation'' clauses
allowing smelters to benefit from copper price gains, it said.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News