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Thursday, June 11, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

The Zambian government has confirmed its intention to increase its shareholding in foreign-owned copper mining companies by 25%.

Zambian Mines and Minerals Development Minister Maxwell Mwale said at the 19th annual World Economic Forum on Africa that this move would increase state ownership of foreign-owned mines to 35%.

However, Mwale was quick to allay fears that this wasn't a step towards nationalising the mining industry, stating that the government had no intention to nationalise the sector.

South Africa's largest mining union has rejected a 6% pay offer by world number-one platinum-miner Anglo Platinum.

The National Union of Mineworkers demanded a 15% wage increase from the company on Wednesday.

Anglopat spokesperson Simon Tebele confirmed on Thursday that the company had offered a 6% wage increase. He said that the next round of negotiations would start on June 25.

The union's 15% increase equals the demands submitted to gold and coal mining companies, but is lower than the 20% hike that it asked from Impala Platinum.

Also making headlines:

Eight Zambian miners are killed at a disused copper dump.
China is ready to cut its steel output if iron-ore talks fail.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold says that copper demand is still weak outside China.
And, China's Minmetals seals the 1,4-billion-dollar Oz Minerals deal.

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