Jack Kim

Gold producer and explorer, Goldplat said it expected to make its first shipment from its Kenyan mining project in early 2012, after receiving a mining licence from the government.

Johannesburg stocks fell to their lowest close in a month on Wednesday, as weak Chinese factory data sparked concerns about demand from the world's second-largest economy, hitting miner Assore and luxury good maker Richemont.

Mozambique has no plans to impose local ownership requirements on its mining industry and it will not seek overly high government stakes in mining ventures that could deter investors, its national director of mines said.

South Africa's rand tumbled to its weakest level since May 2009 against the dollar on Wednesday, with market players seeing further losses as investors dump risky assets on worries that euro zone leaders are not getting to grips with the debt crisis in their region.

South Africa's direct economic exposure to countries at the epicentre of the euro zone debt problems is low, but the risk of increased trade protectionism as a result of the crisis could harm local exports, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Wednesday.

Anglo American Platinum, the world's top miner of the precious metal, will hand over a 10 percent stake in its Unki project in Zimbabwe to locals, the first step towards an empowerment law, state radio said on Wednesday.

Running battles flared in central Cairo on Wednesday even after Egyptian military police reinforced riot police guarding the Interior Ministry, a flashpoint for violence.

The African Union special envoy for Somalia on Wednesday urged countries waging war on al Shabaab to keep an open door to negotiations with militants who are willing to lay down their weapons.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a spokesman said on Wednesday, giving no reason.

The world's largest backer of the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria said on Wednesday it was cutting new grants for countries battling the diseases and bringing in a new manager to ensure better administration.

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on Wednesday he was happy for Libya to try Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam instead of sending him to the Hague, and cast doubt on whether the country's former intelligence chief had been caught.

Some of Libya's clans said on Wednesday they would not recognise the government, a day after the unveiling of a new cabinet revived regional and tribal rivalries which threaten the country's stability.

South Africa's state-owned oil company PetroSA said on Tuesday it has received environmental authorisation for its 400,000 barrels-per-day refinery project at the industrial port of Coega.

AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third-largest gold producer, said on Tuesday it expects capital expenditure to double to $1.5 billion dollars by 2013.

Mozambique plans to expand the Quelimane port in the country's Zambezia central province to be able to handle 20 million tonnes of coal per year to meet fast-rising demand from producers setting up in the country, an official said on Tuesday.

Ratings agency Fitch said on Tuesday it was concerned about South Africa's deficit reduction plans given that economic growth is likely to slow next year.

Johannesburg stocks rose nearly 1 percent on Tuesday, as investors returned to resource heavyweights African Rainbow Minerals, BHP Billiton and other shares that have been battered down in a recent sharp sell off.

South Africa's inflation risks are skewed to the upside, with cost-push pressures and the sharp depreciation of the rand posing the primary threats to the outlook, the Reserve Bank said on Tuesday.

Kenya's central bank changed another key policy aim by almost-doubling this fiscal year's inflation target to 9 percent, just weeks after being driven to make a huge rate rise to combat soaring inflation and save the plunging shilling.

The board of Brazil's Vale has approved a $6 billion expansion of its Moatize coal project in Mozambique to lift output to 22 million tonnes per year from the 11 million tonnes it expects to mine initially, a company official said.

South Africa's parliament passed a bill on protecting state secrets on Tuesday despite criticism at home and abroad that it harks back to apartheid legislation and makes it easier for corrupt officials to conceal graft.

An unidentified fighter jet bombed the outskirts of a Somali rebel-controlled village in the south of the Horn of Africa country on Tuesday, killing at least one civilian, residents and members of the al Shabaab militant group said.

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor conceded on Tuesday that the captured son of Muammar Gaddafi may be tried in Libya rather than in The Hague, meaning he faces the death penalty if convicted.

Most Egyptian politicians demanded on Tuesday that a parliamentary election proceed on time after days of protests against military rule but one party called for a delay of two weeks because of the security concerns.

Egyptians frustrated by army rule battled police in Cairo streets again on Tuesday as the military struggled to cope with a challenge to its authority that has jolted plans for the country's first free election in decades.

State-controlled Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has sold its Dublin-based asset management arm to South African investment management firm Prescient Holdings for an undisclosed sum, AIB said on Monday.

South Africa's rand fell 1.7 percent against the dollar on Monday and was seen vulnerable to further weakness that could take it to this year's low at 8.4950.

South African stocks posted their biggest one-day drop in seven weeks on Monday, tumbling 2.5 percent as concerns about debt burdens in the United States and Europe sparked a sell-off in resources firms and others sensitive to global growth.

South Sudan's oil ministry said that foreign oil companies and potential buyers of its crude were on notice that no other nation or entity had been authorised to sell its oil.