South African gold-mining group Harmony has been granted a licence to develop a mine at Papua New Guinea’s Hidden Valley project. The licence was granted after a comprehensive licensing process, including intensive reviews of all of Harmony’s environmental plans under Papua New Guinea’s newly enacted, strict environmental legislation.
There was chaos at Port Elizabeth’s Livingstone Hospital on Monday as would-be research volunteers flocked to give blood and hair samples, a provincial official said. Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said a pharmaceutical research company had announced it would pay R300 for each sample.
Leisure group Sun International on Tuesday reported a sharp increase in headline earnings per share to 252 cents for the half-year ending December 2004, from 153 cents in the previous comparative half-year. The group attributed the improvement to strong growth in casino revenues, improved operating margins and lower borrowing costs.
Global resources group BHP Billiton on Tuesday announced that it has made a $7,3-billion counter-bid for Australian mining group WMC Resources. On November 22 last year, mining group Xstrata announced that it would bid to take over WMC Resources, offering WMC Resources’ shareholders Aus$7 cash per share. BHP Billiton is offering $7,85 per share.
Niche banking group Investec will open an office in Knysna this week, to provide specialised services in the Garden Route area, announced Andy Vogel, Investec regional manager for the Eastern Cape. The specialist investment banking group will offer a number of services from its private client division.
Truck drivers and their employers have ”in principle” reached an agreement about wages, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) said on Tuesday. Negotiators from the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union and the Road Freight Employers’ Association are expected to sign the deal at noon on Tuesday, said CCMA director Edwin Molahlehi.
Canadian doctors on Monday embarked on an intricate operation to separate conjoined twin boys from Zimbabwe. Tinashe and Tinotenda were joined at the abdomen and share a liver, and have been treated at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children since late last year.
Tens of thousands of young girls and women have been raped or otherwise subjected to sexual violence during five years of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to an international investigation. Some of the victims were as young as three. Men and boys were similarly treated, the report by Human Rights Watch says.
Italians bade an emotional farewell on Monday to the senior intelligence officer killed by United States troops in Iraq last week as officials in Rome and Washington tried to dampen smouldering resentment over his death. Nicola Calipari was given a state funeral and his body was carried to Santa Maria degli Angeli church in Rome past a guard of honour.
Michael Jackson lay on a bed masturbating himself and a 13-year-old boy at the centre of child molestation charges against him, the boy’s younger brother told a court on Monday. The alleged victim’s younger brother told the jury that he had seen Jackson sexually molesting his brother on two occasions.