Canadian International Minerals Acquires Prairie Lake Rare Earth Claims

Canadian International Mineral is pleased to announce that, subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange, it has acquired a 100% interest in mineral claims located in the Thunder Bay Mining Division, Ontario, known as the Prairie Lake North/South and Prairie Lake West Propertportable glass buttes dispencer grinderies, approximately 40 kilometers north-east of Terrace Bay, Ontario.

The Prairie Lake North/South Property consists of 218 mineral claims in 16 claim blocks covering 3,504 hectares in the Killala Lake and Cairngorm Lake Townships.

The Company will acquire the Prairie Lake North/South Property by paying an aggregate of $165,000 and issuing a total of 3,100,000 common shares over a five year period. The Company will also incur exploration expenditures totaling $360,000 over five years. The vendor will retain a 3% NSR, half of which can be purchased by the Company for $1,500,000.

The Prairie Lake West Property consists of 37 mineral claims in 3 claim blocks covering 592 hectares in the Killala Lake Township.

The Company will acquire the Prairie Lake West Property by paying an aggregate of $142,000 and issuing a total of 2,240,000 common shares over a five year period. The Company will also incur exploration expenditures totaling $250,000 over five years. The vendor will retain a 3% NSR, half of which can be purchased by the Company for $1,500,000.

The new claims surround the Prairie Lake Carbonatite Complex (PLCC). The PLCC lies at the intersection of fractures subsidiary to the northern extension of the Big Bay-Ashburton Fault (BBAF). The BBAF is deep seated, related to the Lake Superior mid continental fault, and is considered to be a controlling structure in the formation of the major alkaline intrusives at Prairie and Killala Lakes, and the Coldwell Complex, which is adjacent to the company's Dead Horse Creek (DHC) property (Sage 1987).

Field work conducted by the vendor and confirmed by CIN has located multiple new occurrences of alkaline rocks which contain REEs as well as elevated radiometric signatures. The properties are readily accessible by the principal Deadhorse Creek mainline logging road and are approximately 20 km north of the company's DHC property and adjacent to its KM 23 property.

Severstal Will Consider More South African Purchases After IMBS Investment

OAO Severstal, Russia’s largest steelmaker, will coball crushers for tungsten buy chinansider other investments in South Africa’s steel and mining industry after announcing its entry into the country. “We are interested in steel, mining of base metals, coal, iron ore and gold,” Alexander Grubman, chief executive officer of Severstal Russian Steel, said in an interview in Johannesburg today.

Severstal bought 25.6 percent of Johannesburg-based Iron Mineral Beneficiation Services, which has the patent to technology that converts superfine iron ore to high-quality iron units, for $17 million. “We have a firm belief in this technology,” Grubman said. Severstal’s billionaire Chief Executive Officer Alexei Mordashov said in June the Russian steelmaker was interested in expanding in African mining. The company in May bought 16.5 percent of Core Mining Ltd., which has licenses to untapped iron ore deposits in Congo and Gabon, and yesterday raised its stake in Crew Gold Corp., operating in Guinea, to 93.4 percent. “We think that Africa is the place that steel and mining industry players have to be,” Grubman said.

Gold Fields signs option agreement for 60% interest in Philippines Project

Gold Fields Limited is pleased to announce that it has entered into option agreements with Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (Lepanto), a company listed in the Philippines, and Liberty Express Assets (Liberty), a private holding company, to acquire a 60% interest in the undeveloped gold-copper Far Southeast (FSE) deposit in the Philippines.

The agreements provide Gold Fields with an 18-month option on FSE, during which time Gold Fields wbarytes beneficiation plants in indiaill conduct a major drilling programme as part of a feasibility study on FSE. Gold Fields is required to pay (i) US$10 million in option fees to Lepanto; and (ii) US$44 million as a non-refundable down-payment to Liberty upon signing of the option agreements.

Should Gold Fields, after a 12-month period, decide to proceed with the acquisition of the 60% interest in FSE, a further non-refundable down-payment of $66 million will be payable to Liberty, with the final payment of US$220 million payable at the expiration of the option period. The total pre-agreed acquisition price for a 60% interest in FSE, inclusive of all of the above payments, is US$340 million.

FSE is located within an existing mining camp and is in close proximity to two other mines historically operated by Lepanto, one of which is currently in production. FSE has ready access to established infrastructure, including roads, tailings facilities, power and water. The existing workforce on the doorstep of FSE is part of a supportive community established around mining over the past 70 years.

While there has not been sufficient work completed to declare a mineral resource for FSE, drilling undertaken over a number of years indicates the presence of a large, concealed gold-copper mineralised porphyry system. More than 80 diamond drill holes totalling more than 35,000 metres have intersected a mineralised zone with approximate dimensions of 900 metres east-west by 900 metres north-south by 900 metres vertical. Within this zone Gold Fields considers that mineralisation is continuous. While grades are variable, the following historic drill intersections are considered typical of the mineralized zone: 691m at 2.5g/t Au, 0.9% Cu; 906.8m at 1.5g/t Au, 0.5% Cu; 613.1m at 0.8g/t Au, 0.8% Cu; 733.9m at 0.7g/t Au, 0.4% Cu; and 517.4m at 0.6g/t Au, 0.4% Cu.

Nick Holland, Chief Executive Officer of Gold Fields, said: "This transaction provides Gold Fields with a unique and exciting opportunity to gain exposure to what will undoubtedly prove to be a world-class deposit. It also advances our strategy of growing each of our three international regions to 1 million ounces, either in production or in development, by 2015.

"We now have exciting growth projects in each of the regions in which we operate. In South Africa we have the world-class developing South Deep mine, in South America we have the Chucapaca project in Peru, in West Africa the Yanfolila project in Mali, and now Far Southeast in the Philippines, which forms part of the Australasia region," Mr Holland added.

FSE is located in the northern part of Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines.

Silver Standard Sells Bowdens Project

Silver Standard Resources Inc. announced today that it has entercomplete mobile stone crushing machine 30thed into a definitive agreement with Kingsgate Consolidated Limited to sell 100% of the Bowdens project in NSW, Australia for an aggregate consideration of A$75 million ($83 million). Kingsgate is an Australian-based company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
"This transaction underscores the value of our portfolio and allows us to redeploy capital into accelerating production growth and our strong exploration pipeline," said John Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Silver Standard.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Silver Standard will sell its interest in Bowdens for:

-- A$35 million in cash at closing;

-- A$30 million in Kingsgate shares at closing;

-- A$5 million in cash payable on December 31, 2011; and

-- A$5 million in cash payable on June 30, 2012.

The pre-tax gain is estimated to be $60 million. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions including receipt of any required regulatory approvals and third party consents. Silver Standard expects the transaction to close by October 2011.

First new Southeast copper mine since 1998 opens near Princeton

Mining is returnikaolin mining business planng to the Princeton region as the Copper Mountain Mine celebrated its grand opening Friday. The mine brings jobs to the area and benefits the entire province.

Having started production in June 2011, Copper Mountain is the third-largest copper mine in Canada and the first major-metals mine to open in British Columbia since 1998. The 7,285-hectare (18,000-acre) site is located 20 km south of the town of Princeton and is expected to produce approximately 2.27 billion kilograms (five billion pounds) of copper over its life. When fully operating, the mine will provide about 270 mining jobs in the Princeton area. The B.C. mining sector hit $7.9 billion in gross revenues in 2010, returning to 2008 historic levels after rebounding in recent years. The Province granted Copper Mountain an operating permit in April 2010. The mine life is estimated to be about...

MOD Resources inks 1m gold ounce resource in NZ, $7.50/oz discovery cost

MOD Resources has three diamond rigs turning at the Sams Creek Gold Project in New Zeperlite mining and producing equiopmentaland and has inked a 33 per cent increase to one million ounce JORC gold resource in the process.

This represents quite a change and value add as the Company was a biotech company in 2010.

The resource increase had been achieved at a discovery cost of $7.50 per ounce when the price of gold in New Zealand dollars is around $NZ2,000 per ounce.

The new inferred resource estimate for Sams Creek is 18.65 million tonnes @ 1.71g/t, at a 0.7g/t cut-off.

Significantly, the resource is all contained within an 800 metre strike length of the Main Zone prospect, which represents less than 15% of the known 6 kilometre strike length of the Sams Creek dyke. The Main Zone resource remains open at depth.

While early days in the drill program, that MOD Resources was able to increase the resource at Sams Creek by 33% to more than 1 million ounces from just an initial 9-hole drilling program would provide the Company with significant encouragement.

Also of interest, Sams Creek is known to be an intrusive-related gold deposit. Other similar types of gold deposits are very large – including Fort Knox and Donlin Creek in Alaska, Vasilkovskoe in Kazakhstan and Kidston in Australia, indicating that MOD Resources might be onto a very interesting project with significant potential to increase the resource with further exploration.

The aim of this program is to achieve a 60% interest in the Sams Creek permit under the joint venture with tripled listed OceanaGold Corporation.

MOD is earning up to 80% of Sams Creek from OceanaGold by sole-funding staged exploration programs. New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals agreed to extend the Sams Creek exploration permit for five years to March 2017 following the successful completion of the stage one drilling program.

Stage two drilling program is continuing with 3 diamond rigs at work at Sams Creek.

FairStar Resources Provides Steeple Hill Iron Project Update

Australian multi-commodity exploration and development company FairStar Resources is pleased to provide the following update on its Steeple Hill Iron Project in Western Australia’s eastern goldfields.

FairStar advises that its comprehensive resofly ash processing equipment from chinaurce definition drill program at Steeple Hill has been completed.

FairStar further advises that all assays have now been completed. FairStar has submitted all data to Australian Mining Consultants (FairStar’s independent consultants) for calculation of FairStar’s maiden JORC-compliant Resource at the Steeple Hill project in the very near future.

Due to the highly prospective nature of the project and the continuity of mineralisation encountered throughout the ore body, the drill program at Steeple Hill was expanded by the addition of 200 holes.

The resource definition drill program has drilled 450 holes for a total of 4,204 metres. The additional holes were drilled at targets situated in the southern region of the project, which still remains open in the south.

A trenching program of 145 trenches has also been completed. FairStar is presently focusing on developing an alluvial iron project at Steeple Hill. This will accelerate the development timeframe of the project due to the low extraction cost, increased speed of mining and ease of treatment (in comparison to hard rock mining).

FairStar’s goal is to fastrack the development of the Steeple Hill Iron Project so as to become an economic producer of export grade hematite.

FairStar has completed an ethno-graphic survey and noise survey at the project. An environmental survey of the project is currently being conducted and is due for completion in October. The Company also advises that native title negotiations are well advanced and that it expects a positive outcome in the near term.

Infrastructure developments are also in progress, and rail and sea-bound transport corridors have been established. In addition, site infrastructure and other required licenses are currently being addressed.

Next phase of drilling

Post the delineation of the upcoming JORC Resource, FairStar plans to embark on its next phase of drilling, of up to a further 100 holes, to expand the project and to provide a more thorough understanding of the mineral extent of the ore body, particularly in the southern portion of Steeple Hill where it remains open.

FairStar Resources managing director Kevin Robertson said: “We are delighted with the continued rapid progress the Company is making toward its goal of becoming a successful junior iron ore miner. We look forward to providing details of the maiden JORC Resource at the Steeple Hill project in the near future, and then commencing our next stage of drilling to expand the project further.”

Discussion with potential project investor and off take partners

The Company also advises that it has commenced discussions with a number of Chinese groups and other interest parties from Asia in relation to securing project funding for the development of the Steeple Hill project, as well as potential off take arrangements and equity investment in the Company.

FairStar will advise the market on the progression and development of these discussions in due course.

Vertical granted pilot mining license for the Curionopolis iron project

Lara Exploration is pleaseramesh ji baewar ball mill manufacturerd to report that Vertical Mineracao, has been granted a Trial Mining License for the Curionopolis Iron Project in northern Brazil, where Lara retains a royalty interest.

Vertical has concluded 115 diamond drill holes, for approximately 9,000 metres to date, outlining iron formations along six targets extending for approximately 8.5 kilometers and with thicknesses of up to 150 metres within the property.

The Company has been advised by Vertical that it plans to file its final exploration report to the Brazilian Department of Mines by the end of this month.

Under the terms of the agreement with Vertical, an area of 1,348 hectares of the Curionopolis Property was ceded in exchange for cash payments to Lara of US$868,256 paid and the remainder due by August 2012), production royalties of US$1.50/ton on sales of granular iron ore and US$0.75/ton on sales of fine-grained iron ore from the Project.

Michael Bennell, Lara's Vice President Exploration and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and is responsible for the preparation and verification of the technical information in this release.

African Minerals seeks tighter takeover protection

African Minerals, the largest company on London's junior AIM market, will ask shareholders next month to vote on increasing its takeover prohow do you process dirty mica in a quarrytection with the company's corporate profile likely to rise once it starts producing iron ore.

The provisions will be a diluted version of the UK's Takeover Code, which regulates the way acquisitions are done. The Bermuda-registered miner is not covered by the code. African Minerals, which last month appointed Deutsche Bank as its nominated adviser and broker, said it is not looking to lift its protection in response to any specific interest. "It is appropriate to protect shareholders given that the company is moving from exploration to producer in Q4 this year," a spokesman told Reuters. African Minerals expects to start producing iron ore at its flagship Tonkolili project in Sierra Leone this year. Shandong Iron & Steel, the world's ninth-largest steel group, is paying $1.5 billion for a 25 percent stake in the project. Shares in the company have...

Australia to support Ghana develop its extractive sector

Mr William Billy Williams, Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, has assured the nation of Australia’s commitment to support Africa especially Ghana in the develimestone transfer belt manufacturerslopment of its extractive sector.

He said Australian resources companies have current and projected investment across Africa of around 50billion Australia dollars, adding, “there are over 230 Australian companies working on more than 650 projects in exploration, extraction, processing and mining services in 42 countries in Africa.”

Mr Williams was speaking at a reception held to welcome graduates who recently completed a Geographic Information System mining course in Australia in Accra on Tuesday.

It was also to welcome participants of the first two mining-related courses on occupational health and safety and managing corporate social relationships hosted in Accra.

He said the reception was also to launch Ghana as a hub for Australian courses in Africa and a technical assistance program that Australia would provide for the Ghana Revenue Authority to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of revenue collection and tax administration in the minerals sector.

Mr Williams noted that the investment Australian companies had in Africa have contributed to Africa’s long-term economic and community development.

He said more than 15 Australian mining and related services companies have invested several hundred million dollars in extraction, exploration and associated activities, generating extensive employment and a significant ‘multiplier effect’ in Ghana.

He said the reception was an opportunity to recognized Australia commitment to mining for development which was a key focus of which Australia commitment to human resource capacity building.

He noted since 2010, 27 African countries have received around 240 short and long term Australia Awards in mining and natural resource management, covering issues such as mining governance, environmental management and workplace safety.

He said Ghana was been awarded 85 Australia Awards in 2012 in including mining governance, agriculture, health, education and public policy and added that Australia will deliver 1000 Awards throughout Africa each year from 2013.

Mr Ben Aryee, Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, said the key role of mineral endowed nation was to promote exploration and exploitation of resources in which comparative advantage exists and competitive advantage could be developed.

He said the role of the minerals commission as spelt out in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana was to regulate and manage the utilization of the mineral resource of Ghana and the coordination and implementation of policies in relation to them.

Mr Aryee said institutional reforms aimed at strengthening enforcement of regulations, following the coming into force of Act 703, the erstwhile Mines Department was brought under the Minerals Commission as the “Inspectorate Division.”

He said the Minerals Commission was collaborating with the Chamber of Mines to identify products required by industry to be produced and supply by local companies, adding, “About 28 product have so far been shortlisted.”

Mr Aryee thanked the Australian Government for choosing Ghana as a hub for Australia funded training courses which would be delivered in West Africa.

Sishen plans mega maintenance facility for mega trucks

Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine near Kathu in the Northern Cape, the largest iron ore mine in the country, will see significant growth over the next eight years. This requires the injection of cash into the mine’s on-site infrastructure to support its development.

The growth of the current 12 km x 4 km open cast pit negold mining equipment for sale zimbabwecessitates additional haul trucks for overburden waste handling.

With this in mind, engineering project house TWP was contracted to develop a ‘Bucket and Bowl’ workshop facility, which will cater to the maintenance and service requirements of the expanded haul truck fleet’s buckets, and bowls.

Although enormous in size and just launched, the workshop’s purpose is only temporary. A permanent facility (Life of Mine workshop) is already under construction, and is due to be completed in September 2013.

The workshop, measuring 50 m x 40 m, with a height of 27 m, has four under-cover bays and six apron bays outside has been fitted with two 80 t overhead cranes, and a 450 t tyre press, which will be moved to the Life of Mine workshop when it starts operating.

The scope of work for the ‘Bucket and Bowl’ workshop also incorporated a tyre yard for storing up to 280 tyres for the mega-trucks, an adjacent administration building, compressor room, nitrogen tank storage slab, sewer pump station and 11 kV sub-station.

Mindful of the impact of the mine on the neighboring district within the pristine Kalahari landscape, the workshop was positioned close to the existing waste dump within a controlled environment isolated from the mine operations, with polluted wash water and contaminated storm water run-off leading to a new pollution dam complex.

A total of 4 600 m³ of concrete, 560 t of structural steel and 93 000 bricks were used. At peak, a total of 455 employees were on site. The project achieved a zero lost time injury over 700 885 man-hours and 326 days worked (462 calendar days).

The successful completion of the ‘Bucket and Bowl’ workshop is regarded as a major achievement in that numerous challenges were overcome both prior to commencement of the project during the study phase, and during the construction phase. These included the remoteness of the location, environmental considerations, adaptation of the facility for an alternative purpose before the permanent maintenance facility is completed, and the size of the building required to service the mega-trucks.

Energio back trading as hunt to prove plus 1Bt iron ore resource in Nigeria continues

Eniron ore processing plantpage173ergio has now successfully completed a change in strategic direction and will recommence ASX trading at the opening bell on Thursday 15 March, after complying with the listing rules.

Energio now has just over 136 million shares on issue. Where the Energio story becomes really interesting is that the company wholly owns large scale exploration projects in Nigeria, which includes the Agbaja Iron Ore Exploration Project. Agbaja has an exploration target of 1-2 billion tonnes of iron ore at a minimum of 30% iron, with rock chip samples within the project area returning grades of up to 55% iron, highlighting direct shipping ore potential. A maiden JORC Resource remains on track for a June quarter 2012 delivery, with over 200 holes completed so far. Drilling at the project is aggressive, with the company on target to finalise the 20,000 metre drilling and...

Significant New Iron Discovery in Western Australia

Greenfields explorer, Buxton Resources is pleased to announce that assays from RC drilling have confirmed a significant iron discovery at the Company’s Zanthus Project, 230km east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

Managing Diredry benefication of coal in polandctor Ron Smit said assay results from eleven RC holes testing iron rich float associated with a strong aeromagnetic anomaly at the Cohen Prospect, have defined wide zones of high-grade, strike extensive magnetite mineralisation believed to be the first iron discovery in the region.

”This is the first recorded magnetite occurrence in the area and our initial results suggest that the wide zones of primary magnetite mineralisation intersected have the potential to be beneficiated to a high quality Fe concentrate”.

“We have over 20 strike kilometres still to test including several areas that report a higher magnetic response than that seen at Cohen. This is a significant discovery which is enhanced by being only 25km from the Trans Australian Railway”.

“We plan to undertake further drilling as soon as possible,” Mr Smit said.

Significant RC drilling results include;

• ZRC001: 15m at 24.8 % Fe from 60m (plus oxide intercept of 20m @ 27.2% Fe from 25m)


• ZRC003: 20m at 21.8 % Fe from 55m


• ZRC004: 10m at 24.6 % Fe from 65m (plus oxide intercept of 55m @ 24.1% Fe from 5m)


• ZRC005: 43m at 33.9 % Fe from 47m to end of hole


• ZRC008: 17m at 37.1% Fe from 45m


• ZRC008: 15m at 32.7% Fe from 73m


• ZRC013: 41m at 32.7% Fe from 50m to end of hole (plus oxide intercept of 40m @ 24.3% Fe from 10m)

Davis Tube Recovery testwork on the magnetite mineralisation using a coarse grind (150 micron) reported excellent recoveries with concentrate head grades from 65.2 - 68.1 % Fe.

Infill RC drilling is being planned for the Cohen Prospect and other regional targets, commencing early in the new year.

Chinalco sees Rio as key partner

Chinalco, the Chinese aluminium group, has no planmobile crusher for sale in south europes to sell down its shares in Rio Tinto, viewing the mining house as a key strategic partner as Chinalco expands overseas. “We can’t go out to fight alone,” said Chinalco chairman Xiong Weiping, explaining that co-operation with global miners was essential for overseas development.

“With Rio being one of the top mining companies in the world, Chinalco can learn a lot from them, [including in operational management, asset operation and risk management.]” His remarks on strategic co-operation underline the challenges that Chinese miners face as their expansion plans run into political opposition in resource-rich countries such as Australia. Chinalco has seen its own share of disappointments there, including a failed $19.5bn investment in Rio in 2009. Chinalco is Rio Tinto’s largest shareholder, controlling nine per cent of the global miner, in a symbiotic relationship that has also seen the two companies sign joint ventures for projects in Guinea and in China...

SilverCrest Santa Elena Mine Start‐Up Phase Update

SilverCrest Mines is pleased to report on start‐up production and commissioning phase activities at its 100% owned Santa Elena mine located in Sonora, Mexico.

The mine is expected to produce approximately 35,000 ounces of gold and 600,000 ounces of sildouble roll crusher made in europever per full year of production at an estimated life of mine cash cost of less than US$375 per ounce of gold equivalent. The most significant production activities completed since the first metal pour on September 9, 2010 are outlined below.

Production and Commissioning Activities to December. 31, 2010

• Approximately 371,000 tonnes of lower grade ore (includes 15,000 tonnes of old dumps) have been mined from the open pit at a strip ratio of waste to ore of approximately 2:1. Mining of these lower grade tonnes (average grade of 0.60 gpt Au and 40.2 gpt Ag) was necessary to provide working space for equipment in the initial cut and to create a lower angle for the ultimate pit high wall for safety reasons. This lower grade material is considered pre‐strip for the higher grade Main Zone which is now being mined and will provide the bulk of the ore to be mined in 2011.


• The crusher is operating at near design throughput capacity of approximately 2,500 tpd with an estimated 336.500 tonnes of ore crushed to year end. There are currently 35,000 tonnes of ore from the open pit in stockpile waiting to be crushed. Optimization of the various operating parameters of the crusher is underway in order to reach a steady state of production at design capacity and to achieve the ultimate size reduction of ore to 100% minus 3/8”.


• The heap leach pad currently holds an estimated 336,500 tonnes of ore containing approximately 6,800 ounces of gold and 370,000 ounces of silver that are under leach. In the first 30 days of the leach cycle for current ore on the pad, recovery was estimated at 25 to 35% for gold and 15 to 25% for silver. The first ore placed on the pad has been under leach for 130 days with estimated recoveries of 55% of the gold and 35% of the silver. The optimum recoveries of 65 to 70% gold and 35 to 40% silver predicted by the design metallurgical test work over a projected 300 day leach cycle appear to be achievable.


• The Merrill Crowe recovery unit, refinery and on‐site lab are all performing as designed and expected.


• As of December 31, approximately 2,140 ounces of gold and 54,900 ounces of silver have been produced as dore with a significant amount of gold and silver still in solution for processing and recovery. The Company has received final settlement for the first two shipments of metal to the refinery.


• To date, no lost time accidents have occurred with over 340,000 hours worked.


• All production staff is in place with 68% of employees locally hired. The goal is for 75% of mine employees to be locally hired and trained over the next year.

Santa Elena Expansion Plan

The Company engaged a number of independent consultants in 2010 to examine the preliminary economics of expanding the current production at Santa Elena to approximately 100,000 ounces Au equivalent per year by phasing in the construction of a conventional mill facility and supplementing the ore from the open pit with the development of Santa Elena underground resources, mill feed from its nearby Cruz de Mayo deposit and re‐treatment of the leach pad material to recover the residual gold and silver.

The Preliminary Assessment (PA) of the Expansion Plan for Santa Elena is nearing completion and the results of the PA as well as a NI 43‐101 Technical report updating the Santa Elena reserves and resources are expected to be available shortly. It is expected that PA will demonstrate economic viability for the expansion plan which would then result in the implementation of the PA’s recommendations and the commissioning of a Pre‐Feasibility Study in 2011.

Azumah Completes US$30m Raising to Accelerate Resource Growth in Ghana

Azumah Resources will embark on an aggressive exploration drive to grow its resource base and identify additional sources of mineralisation at its 1.2 million-ounce Wa Gold Project in Ghacost of copper ore processing plantna after completing a $30 million capital raising.

The placement of 50 million shares at 60c each has boosted Azumah’s working capital to nearly $40 million.

Major shareholder, Macquarie Bank, has maintained its position as Azumah’s biggest shareholder with a 12 per cent stake and North American institution J.P. Morgan has acquired an initial 8 per cent stake alongside several other North American, European and Australian institutional clients of issue lead manager Toronto-based Clarus Securities Inc. and Australian-based co-manager BGF Equities.

Shareholders approved the placement on 25 November 2010 and all funds have now been received.

This capital raising, which was at a price 50 per cent above the previous raising in May 2010, is consistent with the Company’s strategy of broadening its institutional shareholder base in the lead up to the development of a 70,000oz a year-plus gold mine at Wa.

The feasibility study is due for completion in early 2011 and production is scheduled to commence in 2012.

“Azumah is now in an extremely strong position to deliver on its key objectives of boosting resources at Wa and converting these to reserves to underpin a long term mining operation,” said Azumah Managing Director Stephen Stone.

“A growing number of institutions are recognising both the immense cashflow and exploration potential of the Wa Project and we welcome them onto our register.”

Miners at Rio-BHP JV agree pay deal - company

Richards Bay Minerals, a Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton joint venture, said it had agreed a final wage deal with workersmarble stone milling plant manufacturer to end a week-long strike and will resume full output on Friday. RBM said it had agreed an eight percent pay rise with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) for 2010 and a 7 percent increase each for 2011 and 2012.

"We have settled for a three-year deal. We will return to full production tomorrow (Friday)," RBM spokeswoman Nthabiseng Motsepe told Reuters on Thursday. She said RBM had not lost any production during the strike as it had put in place some contingency measures to mitigate the effects of the industrial action, but could not give further details. The company also agreed a five percent rise in housing allowance with the union for this year, but housing allowance increases for next year and 2012 would be linked to the rate of inflation in South Africa.

Communists slam calls to nationalise S.Africa mines

Calls to nationalise South Africa's mines by factions in tkhd humboldt wedag high pressure rollshe ruling ANC are a front to bail out struggling black-owned companies, Communist Party boss Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday.

The radical Youth League of the ruling African National Congress is pushing for mine nationalisation, unnerving investors in the world's No. 1 platinum producer, but President Jacob Zuma's government insists it is not government policy. "The call for nationalisation by elements within the ANC Youth League, is to save the black economic empowerment elements in crisis, and not to address the interests of the workers and the poor," Nzimande said at a strategy meeting of leaders affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). "Ten years from now, they will be calling for privatisation, after the state has inherited the debt," he added. COSATU and the Communist Party were instrumental in Zuma's rise to power but have been largely unimpressed by his...

More Chinese, Indian Migrants Made Permanent in Australia

Australia's mining boom, with marble and granite equipment used for saleits consequent manpower shortage, has forced the country to make more permanent residents of the Indian and Chinese migrants that came in the year to June, 2012, the government said on Thursday.

A total of 185,000 permanent migrants came into Australia in the 2011/12 financial year, of which 125,755 were in the skilled migrant programme, the government reported.

Indian permanent migrants provided the biggest number in the 2011/12 tally, at 29,018, representing 16 per cent of the total number. Migrants from China came in second at 25,509, and from Britain at 25,274.

"Skilled migration is essential to support our economy and help overcome the challenges of an ageing population," Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen said.

The latest migrant intake figures represented a 9.7 per cent jump from the 168,685 recorded in 2010/11.

"Today's skill stream is highly targeted towards employer sponsorship, the regions and high value occupations, with over 60 per cent of skilled migration visas going to employer, government and regional sponsored places to help fill critical skills needs," Mr Bowen said.

Australia has plans to take in 190,000 migrants in the year 2012/13.

Lake Shore Gold to Nearly Triple Gold Production in 2011

Lake Shore Gold ilica sand processing plant equipmentCorp. today announced production and expenditure guidance for 2011 including 140,000 ounces of gold mined from all sources and mill production targeted at 125,000 ounces, with an additional 35,000 ounces of gold expected to be in inventory stockpiles at year end.

Capital expenditures for the year are projected at $75.0 million, excluding exploration expenditures, capitalized operating costs and gold sales from development assets, with costs largely related to development work at Thunder Creek and Timmins Mine.

Material for processing will come from commercial production at Timmins Mine as well as from ongoing advanced exploration work at Thunder Creek and Bell Creek. Priority will be given to processing material from Timmins Mine, where cash operating costs are estimated at US$575 per ounce during the Mine's first year of commercial production. As Timmins Mine reaches full production and Thunder Creek and Bell Creek achieve commercial production, cash operating costs are expected to improve to around US$400 per ounce over the next three years.

Exploration will remain an important focus of the Company in 2011, with an increased budget of $31.0 million. Surface drilling during the year will be focused at Bell Creek, Thunder Creek, 144 and the Gold River Trend, with continued significant underground drilling at Thunder Creek, Timmins Mine and Bell Creek. During 2011, the Company expects to announce an initial National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 resource at Thunder Creek, with updated and expanded NI 43-101 resources for Gold River Trend, Timmins Mine and Bell Creek anticipated by early in 2012.

Tony Makuch, President and CEO of Lake Shore Gold, commented: "We are very pleased where we find ourselves entering 2011. We are on track to nearly triple production from the 2010 level of 43,500 ounces. Timmins Mine is in commercial production and our Bell Creek Mill continues to perform very well with average recoveries exceeding target levels. Our operating costs this year will be very competitive and, as we continue to grow production from all sources, we will drive costs down to around US$400 per ounce. We are also moving towards a staged expansion of the Bell Creek Mill to between 3,500 and 5,500 tonnes per day and, based on the significant exploration success we are achieving, also see a need for a new mill at Timmins West."

"We plan to remain very aggressive explorers in 2011, and in fact will increase exploration spending this year with our focus largely being directed at Thunder Creek, 144, Gold River Trend, Bell Creek and Timmins Mine. Based on our opening cash balance of $92.0 million (plus approximately 12,000 ounces of gold bullion inventory sold for $16.0 million early in 2011), as well as our planned expenditures and expected production this year, we expect to remain well funded through 2011."

"Longer term, we remain on track to significantly grow production in 2012 and 2013 with excellent potential for further growth given the game-changing potential of projects such as Gold River Trend and 144. Our intermediate plans include continuing to grow production and lower operating costs at Timmins Mine, completing advanced exploration and pre-production development at Thunder Creek and bringing this very exciting project into commercial production and carrying out the needed advanced exploration and feasibility work to develop the new, deeper deposits at Bell Creek."

Not included in the Company's current business plan and projected costs are expenditures related to increasing milling capacity. The Company is currently studying options for a staged expansion of the Bell Creek Mill, located on the east side of Timmins, to between 3,500 and 5,500 tonnes per day from the current level of 2,000 tonnes per day. The Company is also planning to construct a new mill on the site of the Timmins West Complex with the permitting process underway and the ultimate size of the mill to be determined based upon the optimal mining of tonnes and grade from Thunder Creek and continued exploration success in the area. A decision on expanding the Bell Creek Mill is expected before the end of the second quarter.