HOT TOPIC: Diamond merger?

Several unsubstantiated reports are circulating this week that suggest BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are in talks that would lead to a US$1-billion merger of their diamond operations in Canada. BHP Billiton owns and operates the Ekati project at Lac des Gras, NWT, and Rio Tinto owns 60% and operates the nearby Diavik mine.

Do you think that BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto will merge their Canadian diamond operations in the near future?

To vote, go to www.CanadianMiningJournal.com and click on the Hot Topic box on the right hand side of the page.

As always reader comments are welcome. Send them to the Net News editor, Marilyn Scales, MScales@CanadianMiningJournal.com.

Last week: The Doe Run metallurgical complex in Peru is closed and facing what its owner says is an impossible clean-up deadline. We asked our readers whether or not they favour extending the deadline, which would allow the complex to reopen and preserve local jobs. Two-thirds of them favour the deadline extension.