Alan Swaby talks to the CEO of a platinum mining project in the final phase of exploration waiting to hear exactly how deep he will have to go.

They say that one man’s meat is another man’s poison. In the case of Village Main Reef Limited, the saying would fit better the other way around; but it still portrays the company’s business model of finding projects that others no longer want and turning them around into profitable, saleable assets.

Though it does other things too, City Group Company is best known as the chief provider of public transportation in the emirate of Kuwait. CEO Richard Woods told John O’Hanlon how the company aspires to expand regionally.

Michel Maalouf, managing director of Astera Engineering, talks to Jayne Alverca about the company’s exponential success within Africa’s fastest growing telecoms market.

Commodities trader Glencore and mining giant Xstrata have confirmed they will merge to create a major natural resources group with a combined equity market value of $90 billion.

The companies said that to combine was the logical next step in a changing industry environment.

The combined entity will have production growth of 11 per cent on a compound annual basis to 2015, with positions in the next major regions for mining investment, including the African copper-belt, Kazakhstan and South America.

The University of Kentucky’s Lean Systems Program is perhaps the closest you can come to understanding lean as Toyota sees it. Program director Ken Kreafle and Kathleeen Jeurisson of Lake Region Medical, talk about the people side of true lean.

Tullow Oil has signed two new production sharing agreements (PSAs) with the government of Uganda, paving the way for completion of its asset sale to France’s Total and China’s CNOOC.

The new PSAs cover the EA-1 and Kanywataba licences in the Lake Albert Rift Basin. Tullow has also been awarded the production licence for the Kingfisher field, which is estimated to hold around 300 million barrels of oil.

Yesterday’s announcement that Xstrata and Glencore were indeed talking to each other about a possible “merger of equals” has hit the fan, and stirred up a storm of comment around the world.

Everybody who’s anybody in world media has been saying today that this is the worst kept mining M&A secret of recent times, and they all have their own angle on it.

The name “Glenstrata” has been coined by someone (I know not by whom, but I offer my congratulations) as a name for the potential merged company.

UK-based Subsea 7 has been awarded a $100 million contract by BP Exploration for work on the Clair Ridge Project, West of Shetland.

The Clair Ridge development will comprise two new bridge-linked platforms to be sited to the north-east of Clair Phase 1.

The contract scope includes the project management, engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of a six kilometre, 22 inch oil export pipeline and a 14 kilometre, 6 inch gas export pipeline connected to the new production facilities and existing Clair Phase 1 export systems.

Anglo-Swiss mining operator Xstrata has confirmed talks with the world’s largest commodities trader Glencore International plc about an “all share merger of equals.”

After much speculation about alleged talks, Xstrata issued a statement today confirming that it has received an approach from and is in discussions with Glencore, but stressed that “there can be no certainty that any offer will be made.”