Originally known as The Associated Manganese Mines of South Africa Limited, Assmang as it exists today bears very little resemblance to the fledgling company that started work on the Northern Cape’s manganese fields in 1935. Today, the three operating divisions benefit from the modern mining infrastructure and technologies, while Assmang’s “we do it better” philosophy has helped to ensure low operating costs and high employee buy-in.

Under the $650 million deal, which also includes the copper mine’s associated San Manuel Arizona Railroad Company (SMARRCO), Capstone will assume the business's environmental liabilities, and BHP Billiton employees working at Pinto Valley and SMARRCO will become employees of Capstone.

BHP has been looking to restructure its business and offload non-core assets, amid a decline in global demand and falling commodity prices. The mining group has said that it wants to focus on core businesses such as iron ore and coal.

Helped by the weaker yen and the money it has raised from asset sales, the Japanese consumer electronics firm now expects to report net income of 40 billion yen compared to its previous forecast of 20 billion yen.

A weaker currency increases the value of Sony's overseas revenues when repatriated back into yen. Sony said it had assumed an average foreign exchange rate of 88 yen to one US dollar for the first three months of this year. But the actual rate had turned out to be 92 yen to one US dollar.

It marks the first time that Australia’s central bank will invest in sovereign bonds of an Asian country other than Japan. It follows events of earlier this month when the Australian dollar became the third currency to trade directly with the Chinese yuan.

ARM Holdings, the Cambridge-based designer and licenser of low-energy chip technology widely adopted by smartphone and tablet manufacturers has announced adjusted pre-tax profits of £89.4 million in the first three months of the year – that’s 44 percent up on the same period last year. First quarter revenue went up 28 percent to £170.3 million. Following the announcement ARM shares increased by 6.4 percent.

From the first aboriginal inhabitants to use various minerals to produce tools to the now 363,000 plus people who earn a living from the more than 800 mines that exist across the country, Canada’s history has always been intrinsically linked to mining.

This move into the oil and gas hydraulic fracturing market is something that’s new and exciting for our company,” enthuses Bruce Coulthard, President of PZS Stabilization LLC. The move in question has come as a result of forming a manufacturing company, SNCA Products LLC, and including exclusive rights to distribute a revolutionary new line of products globally. One of those products, SGA-1, is formulated specifically for the hydraulic fracturing process of oil and gas extraction -also called “fracing”.