Frik Els , Editor

BusinessWeek reports Alrosa says it mined more diamonds than global rival De Beers in 2009, 2010 and the first half of 2011 and is benefiting from prices for rough diamonds of $109 – up 30% over last year. Alrosa accounts for more than a quarter of world output and for 2011 predicts $5 billion in revenue. The secretive firm has been feeding the market more information recently in anticipation of a 2012 public offering, but now says its good financial performance may reduce the size.

Gold for December delivery had shed $40 or more than 2% by lunchtime coming close to breaching the $1,600/oz level in New York before before regaining some ground to trade at $1,618 an ounce by early afternoon. Traders said the metal is likely to remain a “dead trade” until it can resume its role as a fear barometer and is able to rally in face of equities weakness and that a "solid downtrend" has now been established. Some analysts are saying gold's precipitous $300 drop in September represented a fundamental market shift and that gold's fall despite market volatility and economic uncertainty means the metal has lost its safe haven status and is being treated like any other commodity.

Reuters reports Outokumpu said it expected to report a significant operating loss in its final quarter as weak demand and prices continued to hit margins forcing the stainless steel maker to cut up to 1,300 jobs in an effort to reduce costs after brought on by the declining value of its raw material inventories. While Europe's woes have been well-documented, the Finnish multinational's announcement is further evidence of a changing dynamic in the iron ore and steel market. On Tuesday Chinese steel mills forced the world’s number one iron ore producer Vale to bend over contract pricing after falls in the spot iron ore price.

The UK Daily Record reports a judge hearing how four miners died following safety breaches in 2006 and 2007 at Britain's biggest mining firm – UK Coal – has indicated he will not impose fines at a level which would "cripple" a company which in court was described as being in a "pretty desperate situation". UK Coal is a shadow of its former self – in May 2008 it was trading at £5.84 while on Thursday in London trade the company exchanged hands for 34p giving it a market capitalization of not much more than £100 million.

Newmont Mining announced on Wednesday protesters are now allowing access to the Yanacocha gold mine in northern Peru. A local paper reported protesters decided to remove roadblocks following an agreement with the mines ministry and regional authorities. Newmont on Monday was forced to shut down operations at Yanacocha, South America's largest gold mines with annual output of 1.5 million ounces. Newmont and local partner Buenaventura are also advancing a $4.8 billion project to expand the mine which would be the largest investment ever in Peru.

According to a new survey by esure home insurance British distrust of banks and savings accounts has increased to such an extent that more than one in ten in the United Kingdom now own a stash of gold valued above any cash savings. According to the survey, more than 38% of Britons also say investing in gold is better than keeping cash savings. As gold vending machines pop up in shopping malls and physical gold retailers like London-based Bullionvault surpass some central banks in gold holdings, 14% of Britons bought an item of gold as an investment in the past year.

2Merkato reports the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines announced that five international companies have invested $6.5 billion in the Ethiopia potash mining industry which is centred in the Dalol area, part of the Danakil Depression (pictured). The five companies are G&B Central Africa Resource, Saynic Potash, Nova Potash, BHP Billiton and Toronto-listed Allana Potash. Allana has the backing of the World Bank and on Monday the company announced the latest in a string of high-grade discoveries at its 160 square km land position at Dalol.

Microcap Canadian explorer Apogee Silver jumped 10% on Wednesday after announcing indicated silver resources at its Pulacayo Deposit in southwestern Bolivia had increased 133%. More than seven times the usual number of shares changed hands on Wednesday bringing the firm's market cap on the Toronto Venture exchange to just under $50 million. Apogee said the Pulacayo silver-lead-zinc deposit has 29.34 million ounces of indicated silver resource and 26.24 million ounces of inferred silver resource.

Argus Media reports the biomass conversion of Germany utility RWE's Tilbury, UK, power plant is on schedule to be completed before the end of this year, possibly as soon as November. The conversion is relatively straightforward, with the main issues material handling and logistics, according to RWE. The coal-fired power station on the banks of the Thames in England, previously scheduled for shut down in 2015 under new EU environmental regulations, hopes to produce up to 750 megawatts of green power. The news comes a day after a leaked European roadmap for energy use showed the use of coal for power generation dropping dramatically and that within 20 years all homes on the continent could be powered by wind-generated electricity.

Commodity Online reports platinum group metals miners may be hit by the rapid growth in the number of electric cars on the road that do not need catalytic converters. In addition, manufacturers like Nissan have slashed the use of platinum in gasoline-powered vehicles in efforts to keep costs down. The drop in industrial demand has not nearly been offset by the surge in jewellery sales and platinum has lost almost a fifth of its value since the start of September while palladium is down 23%. FT quotes Barclays Capital research that notes at current levels of about $1,530 an ounce, platinum is trading close to or below the price at which some miners break even and that high-cost producers are already losing money.