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Friday, June 5, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

On Friday, global miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton said they'd combine their major Australian iron ore operations, ruining a 19,5-billion-dollar bid by China's Chinalco to secure a stake in Rio and long-term access to its key ore supplies.

Rio also said it was raising 15,2-billion-dollars in a deeply discounted rights issue to further cut its hefty debt pile.

BHP and Rio have agreed to combine the operations into a 50-50 joint venture, generating savings of at least 10-billion-dollars.

BHP, which dropped a bid to buy Rio last year, will pay Rio Tinto 5,8-billion-dollars to take its equity interest in the venture to 50 percent, but it stressed that the agreement was non-binding at this stage.

South African black-owned empowerment firm Mvelaphanda Resources would delist from the JSE in early 2010, confirming that it had decided to unbundle, rather than doing a deal with a third party.

Chairperson Lazarus Zim said that the unbundling strategy eliminated risk for shareholders in a time of "unprecedented volatility".

He said that the possible unlock of value inherent in the holding company structure was likely to be in excess of 2-billion-rand, or over R10 for each Mvela Resources share.

Executive manager: commercial James Wellsted said that Mvela Resources would unbundle its 62,8% stake in Northam Platinum to shareholders after September, when Northam completed its bankable feasibility study of the Booysendal project.

He noted that if Northam decided to proceed with a rights issue after the completion of the BFS, Mvela Resources would be in a position to take up the offered shares. Only after this is done, would the company unbundle its Northam shares to its shareholders.

Also making headlines:

Vancouver-based Teck Resources is in discussions with potential buyers for a 20% stake in its coal mining assets.
ASX-listed BC Iron signs a deal with Fortescue to start mining in Western Australia.
A landslide buries at least 59 people at a Chinese iron-ore mine.
And, De Beers ramps up its diamond output.

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