January 2010

Xstrata Plans A$6 Billion Power-Station Coal Mine in Australia

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Xstrata Plc, the world’s largest exporter of power-station coal, plans to develop a A$6 billion ($5.3 billion) mining, port and rail project in Queensland to benefit from increased demand for the fuel.

Wandoan, 407 kilometers (253 miles) northwest of Queensland’s capital Brisbane and 382 kilometers southwest of Gladstone port, may start exporting the fuel by 2014, James Rickards, a spokesman for Xstrata, said by phone. The project may initially produce 30 million metric tons per year, he said. Read more

RUMOUR: Syncrude stake for sale?

ALBERTA — According to an article published in the Globe and Mail on Jan. 27, 2010, ConocoPhillips will sell its 9% stake in the Syncrude oil sands project north of Fort McMurray. One likely purchaser might be Canadian Oil Sands Trust, which currently holds a 36.47% share of the project. Other interested parties might be Chinese. The sale could gross up to $4 billion for the seller.

Our readers are reminded that ConocoPhillips had not yet made an announcement concerning its Syncrude holding at press time. Read more

GOLD MINING: Second shift to be added at Bonaparte mine

BRITISH COLUMBIA — Encore Renaissance Resources of Vancouver has announced plans to add a second underground shift at its Bonaparte gold mine near Kamloops. The decision was made following the discovery of a new vein announced in December 2009. The vein is said to contain sulphides similar to material mined in the pit area last fall.

The additional shift will facilitate the development of the new vein and advance the decline towards the known main veins. Underground exploration drilling is planned. Read more

ACQUISITION: Alexis to double gold output with Garson Gold deal

TORONTO — Alexis Minerals has completed the acquisition of Garson Gold, almost doubling its gold resources thanks largely to Garson’s New Britannia project in Manitoba and its McMillan property in Ontario. Alexis now counts more than 865,000 oz of contained gold in measured and indicated resources and 479,000 oz in inferred resources. Read more

Gold Hits 2nd Monthly Loss as Greek Bail-Out Denied, Euro Falls Through $1.40

London Gold Market Report

from Adrian Ash

BullionVault

08:25 EST, Fri 29 Jan.

Gold Hits 2nd Monthly Loss as Greek Bail-Out Denied, Euro Falls Through $1.40 Read more

BHP boosts Pilbara despite EU threat to Rio joint venture

BHP Billiton has approved $US1.9 billion ($2.2bn) worth of early works on its next big iron ore expansion in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, keeping its foot almost to the floor on growth as the fate of its $US116bn iron ore merger with Rio Tinto lies with European regulators. Read more

ERA’s profit up 23pc, flags higher costs in 2010

ENERGY Resources of Australia met analysts’ forecasts with a 23 per cent rise in annual profit boosted by higher uranium contract prices, but it foreshadowed higher costs in 2010 as it works to expand its Ranger mine.

ERA forecast 2010 production, sales and average realised sale prices to be “broadly similar” to those of 2009 but said the Ranger expansion plus higher maintenance costs are expected to “adversely impact earnings over the year”. Read more

Kinross passes 50m-ozs milestone in total gold reserves

RENO, NV -

Kinross Gold reported Thursday total proven and probable mineral reserves have increased by 5.4 million ounces to 51 million ounces of gold, a 12% increase.

The company also upgraded mineral resources at its Fruta del Norte project in Ecuador to a measured and indicated gold resource of 5.7 million ounces. Read more

Eskom, Transnet study coal transport options

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africcan power utility Eskom had set up a work group with fellow State-owned enterprise Transnet to interrogate rail logistics solutions as part of a long-term coal-supply strategy for its power stations, chief officer Brian Dames told lawmakers this week. Long-term road and conveyor options were also being pursued. Read more

U.K. Stocks Gain, Led by Mining Companies; Rio, Xstrata Rise

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — The FTSE 100 Index climbed for the first time in three days, with the benchmark trimming its third straight weekly drop, as U.K. mining companies had their first advance this week.

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-biggest mining company, advanced 1.8 percent. Xstrata Plc added 1.5 percent. HSBC Holdings Plc rose 2.4 percent. Read more

Japan Plans Law to Boost Mine Investment to Compete With China

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — Japan plans to revise legislation in order to help domestic companies acquire mining rights overseas and secure raw materials amid competition from neighboring China and South Korea.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has prepared a bill that will allow state-owned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. to invest in foreign mines in collaboration with private companies and to provide government guarantees to fund projects, according to Yohei Matsuda, deputy director at the ministry’s natural resources and energy agency. Read more

Sentula to open four coal mines in next 18 months

CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – Junior miner Sentula Coal expected to have its four coal development assets operational within the next 18 months, Sentula Mining CE Xavier Wagner said on Thursday.

Addressing delegates at a coal conference in Cape Town, Wagner stated that the two most advanced projects – Bankfontein and Schoongezicht – would start production by the end of the year. Read more

Canada to unveil diamond market

Macarthur moves on Middlemount, Donaldson transaction off

MACARTHUR Coal has moved forward with its friendly $668.5 million takeover offer for Gloucester Coal and acquisition of assets from Gloucester’s major shareholder Noble Group.

Noble has a 87.7 per cent stake in Gloucester, after failing to reach the 90 per cent threshold for compulsory acquisition of all remaining shares last year, as well as stakes in the Middlemount mine and Donaldson Coal Holdings. Read more

BHP approves a $2bn expansion of WA iron ore operations

MINING giant BHP Billiton is pushing ahead with its iron ore expansion plans in the Pilbara, agreeing to spend $US1.93 billion ($2.15 billion) to increase output.

The company said the funding forms part of its Rapid Growth Project 6 in the Pilbara region designed to increase the annual capacity of the operations to 240 million tonnes by 2013, and will be used to procure long lead time items and detailed engineering for port, rail and the Jimblebar mine expansion. Read more

TSX Mine Financing Alerts: Who’s Got the Money?

The following companies have filed press releases pertaining to a financing on the TSX and Venture exchanges for mining and exploration activities.

Brokers, analysts and investors can use this information to help evaluate whether a company has the funds to continue the business of making mines to feed the mills that create the metals for myriad uses in today’s growing world. Whether it is a flow through, private placement, debenture, equity or any other form of public offering, you’ll find it here.

NEW: RITV and shareKNOW.net calculate the value of these projects based on the latest metals prices. The tonnages, grades and recovery rates used are all 43-101 compliant unless otherwise stated, however the values stated are gross values and do not include cost data, which is often available at www.shareKNOW.net using the OPERATING CALCULATOR. Go to www.shareknow.net now to begin evaluating prospective investments!

To see the Canadian Financing Archives click HERE.

Date	Company Name (Click to open profile)	Symbol	How Much?	Status
January 27, 2010	First Pursuit Ventures Ltd	FPV	$649,999.	Closed
January 27, 2010	Strateco Resources Inc	RSC	$15,000,000.	Closed
January 27, 2010	Conway Resources Inc	CWY	$200,000.	Proposed
January 27, 2010	Boxxer Gold Corp	BXX	$1,000,000.	Proposed
January 27, 2010	Tirex Resources Ltd	TXX	$2,000,000.	Proposed

Gold “Inevitably” Tracking the Euro as Fed Holds, Risk Assets “Challenged”

London Gold Market Report

from Adrian Ash

BullionVault

09:10 EST, Thurs 28 Jan.

Gold “Inevitably” Tracking the Euro as Fed Holds, Risk Assets “Challenged” Read more

UBS uses world demand to set price for Paladin

The sun never sets on the capital markets. At least it didn’t for Paladin Energy Ltd. earlier this year, when the TSX and ASX-listed uranium miner took advantage of “Aussie rules” to raise $430-million from global investors. Ted Larkin, right, managing director of capital markets at UBS, which was lead left on the deal, said “what we were able to demonstrate with Paladin was to basically bring global demand [for the deal], which we thought was going to be more of a price setter than domestic demand.” Read more

BHP Billiton buys Athabasca Potash

Barrick Cortez Hills injunction potentially devastating to Nevada governments

RENO, NV -

Barrick’s full-court press to build Cortez Hills mine despite an NGO lawsuit seeking to stop the project altogether generated environmental concerns that the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals has insisted must be addressed or the project will be halted.

In response, Barrick has asked a federal court judge to narrow the terms of a preliminary injunction which will allow Cortez Hills to continue on its construction schedule but limit groundwater pumping and not transport or process refractory ore from the minesite. Read more

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