Gold mining tycoon and local philanthropist Spencer Penrose built the Cheyenne Mountain tomb

gold mining tycoon and local philanthropist Spencer Penrose built the Cheyenne Mountain tomb that would receive his ashes two years later. Curiously, Penrose named it the "Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun" in honor of the homespun humorist. Rogers was a close friend of Penrose and died while the tomb was being constructed.

Rogers and Penrose can giggle together from the heavens as players making their way around The Broadmoor's East Course, even those in the U.S. Senior Open, try to figure out those confounded greens.

Here's a hint: Everything breaks away from the shrine.

"Jack Nicklaus once said of this place, 'You can hit 17 greens out here and still end up shooting 82 all day long,' " said Senior Open qualifier Dave Delich, a former Colorado College hockey star who has played Broadmoor East since 1975 and still finds the greens a challenge. more

Northern Abitibi Mining Corp., The trenching program is completed

The trenching program has been very successful in identifying zones of alteration and quartz-sulfide veining in bedrock, underlying gold-in-soil anomalies and near to gold-bearing boulders previously found at surface. To date six new zones have been identified, within an area exceeding 2500 meters by 900 meters. Individual alteration zones occur over strike lengths ranging from 100 to 1000 meters, and all of the new zones remain open for expansion along strike.

The company is extremely pleased with the results of the trenching program which are demonstrating the potential of the property to host numerous large zones of gold mineralization. The different zones discovered to date display a variety of orientations and structural controls, but contain similar mineralization and alteration styles, suggesting they are all related to a single large mineralized system. Only a small portion of the four kilometer long gold-in-soil anomaly at Viking has been tested by trenching, and based on trenching results to date the company anticipates numerous additional zones of mineralization could be discovered as exploration continues. more

Resignation of Gold Fields Chief Operating Officer

Goodlace said his resignation was due to "very private and personal considerations."

"I regret that I will not be with Gold Fields to share in its recovery over the next few quarters, but I will be leaving with the knowledge that the building blocks for success are in place, and that Gold Fields has the depth in executive and operational leadership required to execute its strategy," he said.

Alan Wright, chairperson of Gold Fields said: "In the light of his personal circumstances I have reluctantly accepted Terence's resignation. He will leave Gold Fields with our blessings and our deep respect and gratitude for the many and varied contributions that he has made to the Group."

Nick Holland, CEO said, "Terence has been a key member of the Gold Fields leadership team since its inception in 1998 and has served the company with distinction in various executive positions over this period. more

Halogen Holdings sold out of its remaining shares in AIM-listed Central African Gold last year

while the cash flow is not yet on tap in the Heartstone Inn pub business, Halogen shareholders can at least enjoy a belated celebration of the fact that their company sold out of its remaining shares in AIM-listed Central African Gold last year.

Indeed, the "start-up" losses suffered in pub business would have paled by comparison to the losses Halogen would have suffered had it clung to its remaining shares in Central African Gold.

Readers may remember Halogen's former corporate guise was as Falcon Investment Holdings, which held Zimbabwean gold mines as its main assets.

In early 2007 Halogen sold its interests in two Zimbabwe gold mining companies (Falgold and Olympus) to Central African Gold for gross sale proceeds of $4.55m - or about R30m.

The settlement saw Halogen receive cash of almost $3m (R22m) and 7.2m Central African Gold shares (which Halogen agreed not to sell for at least six months).

The decision to sell the gold mining interests followed the Zimbabwean government's indigenisation programme, which proposed that state and indigenous shareholders should be given a 51% stake in foreign mining companies. more

Yuzhuralzoloto, its gold output grew 15.4%

The privately-owned company said gold output increased 16.5% to 56,400 ounces in the Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals, fell 18.3% to 8,200 ounces in the Krasnoyarsk Region in East Siberia, and grew 3.2% to 10,800 ounces in the Republic of Khakassia in southern Siberia.

The company’s deposits in the Trans-Baikal region in East Siberia yielded 4,100 ounces of gold in the reporting period, Yuzhuralzoloto said.

source :http://www.bbj.hu

Allied Nevada Gold Corp. will begin gold production in the fourth quarter of 2008

Allied Nevada Gold Corp. is pleased to announce that mining and leaching activities at the Company's Hycroft Mine have commenced. Ore is being loaded on existing pads, with new pad construction scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2008. Construction of a new site refinery has begun and is scheduled for completion late in the third quarter. The project will begin gold production in the fourth quarter of 2008, achieving full production capacity in 2009.

The Hycroft reactivation project near Winnemucca, Nevada, involves reopening the Brimstone oxide open pit mine which has been on care and maintenance since 1998. The plan will involve the mining and processing of ore with the heap leach extraction process. Gold and silver will be produced by utilizing a "run of mine" heap leach process and a Merrill Crowe gold recovery plant. Based upon historic gold recovery of Brimstone ores, gold recovery is estimated to average 56.6%.

On April 8, 2008, Allied Nevada completed a public offering of its common stock. The Company sold and issued 12,500,000 common shares and received total gross proceeds of CDN$ 65.6 million or approximately $64.6 million based upon the U.S./Canadian dollar exchange rate on the closing date. On April 18, 2008, Allied Nevada sold and issued an additional 1,875,000 common shares and received total gross proceeds of CDN$ 9.8 million or approximately $9.8 million based upon the U.S./Canadian exchange rate on the closing date pursuant to an over-allotment option exercised by the Company's underwriters. Aggregate net cash proceeds from the common shares issued pursuant to the public offering and exercise of over-allotment option were approximately $69.0 million. These funds were obtained primarily for the reactivation of the Hycroft mine.

Total capital, working capital and operating costs of attaining full production capacity at Hycroft are expected to be approximately $56 million. more

Melbourne mining company, Resource Based Ltd purchased the property and obtained a mining lease for the project

The Broula King gold mine situated on a hill overlooking the hamlet of Bumbaldry in the Weddin Shire was recently re-commissioned when the Melbourne mining company, Resource Based Ltd purchased the property and obtained a mining lease for the project.

Before the mine could even contemplate commencing operations at the site of an even older mine, the owners of the project had to address all the environmental concerns that included the development of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and submitting a Development Application to the Weddin Shire Council.

Several government departments including the departments of Land, the Environment, Water and Conservation, Crown Lands and the RLPB, as well as Country Energy, all made contributions to the EIS.

Eventually the Development Application was passed by the Weddin Shire Council which resulted in the Council being the Consent Authority and having eventual oversight of the development.

That meant that the council was responsible for the proper implementation of the EIS provisions and also investigation of any alleged abrogation of the EIS provisions by the site owners. more

Coal miner Peabody Energy Corp. profit more than double

Canadian business ; Coal miner Peabody Energy Corp. said Wednesday its second-quarter profit more than doubled, beating Wall Street's expectations as the miner benefited from higher shipments, soaring global prices and tighter coal supplies worldwide.

The St. Louis-based company, one of the world's biggest coal producers, reported net income of $233.4 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with $107.7 million, or 40 cents per share, in the April-through-June period a year ago.

Revenue rose 43 percent to $1.53 billion from $1.07 billion in last year's second quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected, on average, earnings per share of 54 cents and revenue of $1.5 billion.

Shares fell 81 cents to $64.22 in morning trading.

Peabody, whose coal fuels roughly one-tenth of all U.S. electricity generation and more than 2 percent of worldwide electricity, tweaked the lower end of its full-year earnings guidance, saying it expects income from continuing operations between $2.50 and $3 per share. The company said in April it expected per-share profits of $2.20 to $3 for 2008.

Peabody left unchanged its production targets of 220 million to 240 million tons of coal, with expectations of selling 240 million to 260 million tons for the year.

The company sounded bullishness Wednesday, saying global demand for coal used in making steel and electricity continues to outpace supply while inventories in key countries — chiefly China — remain critically low. Coal, the company said, is expected to outrun all other energy forms over the next two decades.

"The structural changes driving demand much higher than supply, across all coal markets, look to be very long-lived," Gregory Boyce, Peabody's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "We are just beginning to benefit from the repricing of legacy coal supply contracts at higher levels, which could drive significant earnings increases for many years to come."

The company sold 59.8 million tons of coal during the quarter, compared with 57 million tons during the same period last year.

Revenue from the company's U.S. mining operations grew to $939.1 million, up from $751.7 million a year ago. Australian revenue increased to $523.5 million from $249.4 million a year ago.

Peabody said its coal shipments from Australia jumped 15 percent over the previous year, with the companies per-ton revenues on that continent soaring 84 percent. Peabody's average per-ton revenues in the U.S. grew 22 percent on higher pricing in all regions.

Uranium expansion for nuke

Rapid city journal reports, Opponents of a request for expanded uranium mining near the South Dakota-Nebraska border have prompted a hearing Wednesday before an arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Because of higher prices for uranium used in nuclear power plants and weapons, the Crow Butte Resources mine near Crawford, Neb., in Dawes County wants to raise its annual production from around 800,000 pounds of uranium oxide to about 1.2 million pounds.

The mine owned by Cameco Corp. of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, lies southwest of South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

It uses the "in situ leach" process in which a sodium bicarbonate solution is pumped into an aquifer that has uranium in it. The resulting chemical reaction releases the uranium, which is pumped to the surface and processed into uranium oxide.

Crow Butte has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality for permission to add wells and raise the amount of solution it pumps into the ground.

Several individuals and groups have been allowed to intervene in the NRC process. One of them, Debra White Plume, said her goal is to determine whether the mine is contaminating water on the nearby reservation and causing health problems for its American Indian residents.

"We couldn't find a mine that did not affect the groundwater," said White Plume, who is from the Pine Ridge town of Manderson. "Until we can say with certainty they are not contaminating the groundwater, we have to oppose them."

Gord Struthers, a Cameco Corp. spokesman, said the geology of the area and distance to the reservation make that physically implausible.

"It's impossible for our mining activities at Crow Butte to affect well water at Pine Ridge," he said.

The NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel already has accepted three of seven contentions brought by the petitioners.

Two of those deal with possible water contamination. The other concerns consultation with tribal leaders over a prehistoric Indian camp, according to a memorandum and order.

Wednesday's hearing in Chadron, Neb., will help determine whether the NRC will consider a fourth issue regarding foreign ownership of the mine, the document states.

Struthers said that though the company is Canadian, the United States is its largest customer so it benefits from the mining.

The hearing will also include discussions on the involvement of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and what set of rules will be used in the proceeding, said Scott Burnell, an NRC spokesman.

"We're still in the preliminary phases of the hearing," he said of the process.

Other petitioners include the group White Plume helps run called Owe Aku, or "Bring Back the Way" in Lakota, the Western Nebraska Resources Council, Slim Buttes Agricultural Development Corporation and Thomas Kanatakeniate Cook.

Struthers said Cameco's record in Nebraska is good. A broken coupling allowed contaminated water to reach an aquifer in 1996 but it was pulled back through the mining process before it left the mine. And 23 times mining water has reached monitoring wells at Crow Butte, but groundwater was never contaminated, he said.

Earlier this month, another Cameco company, Power Resources, agreed to pay $1 million to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to settle restoration violations at the company's uranium mine in Converse County.

Because of the higher price of uranium, Cameco continued its mining operations beyond the permit timeline, Struthers said.

"There was never a question of whether the well fields would be restored but when," he said

Oil price drop boost prices

Businessworld reports the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange gained 2.19% or 52.96 points to 2,462.94 while the all-share index edged up by 1.90% or 29.17 points to 1,557.91.

Turnover jumped to P2.15 billion from P1.5 billion on Tuesday, with most investors betting on blue chips, said Jason G. Lagrimas of 2TradeAsia.com.

Advancers swept decliners 69 to 29 while 42 were unchanged.

"The market reacted to the Dow Jones’s performance on Tuesday along with the drop in crude prices and the strengthening of the peso," said Jeng T. Calma of A&A Securities, Inc.

The two analysts noted investors bought select stocks, mainly blue chips, after these hit bargain prices.

"Blue chips led the improvement [yesterday] and this was a good sign. Investors picked up undervalued stocks," Mr. Lagrimas said.

Ms. Calma added now is the right time for long-term investors to accumulate stocks.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery dropped $3.09, closing at $127.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average went up by 1.18% or 135.16 points to 11,602.50 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 1.35% or 17 points to 1,277.00. The Nasdaq Composite Index was also up by 1.07% or 24.43 points to 2,303.96.

"The signs were very encouraging. Investors were already positioning themselves in the market although they are still cautious," Mr. Lagrimas said.

The financial sector climbed by 3.29% or 20.45 points to 641.20 while holding firms gained 2.99% or 38.15 points to 1,311.45.

The property sector rose by 2.86% or 22.85 points to 819.76 while industrial firms edged up by 2.43% or 71.94 points to 3,023.24.

The mining and oil sector gained 1.51% or 99.03 points to 6,627.27.

The service sector, however, lost 0.13% or 1.82 points to 1,392.65.

Among yesterday’s major gainers were Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., which climbed by 9.37% or P3 to P35, and property developer Megaworld Corp., which rose by 9.83% or P0.12 to P1.34.

Lopez-led Manila Electric Co. jumped by 6.66% or P3.50 to P56.

Real estate developer Robinsons Land Corp. rose by 4.76% or P0.30 to P6.60, as did Ayala Land, Inc., by 3.44% or P0.30 to P9.

Filinvest Land, Inc. gained 2.66% or two centavos to P0.77.

Banks were also among yesterday’s gainers. Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc. moved up by 5.40% or P2 to P39 while the Bank of the Philippine Islands climbed by 3.84% or P1.50 to P40.50.

Ayala Corp. went up by 3.80% or P10 to P272.50.

San Miguel Corp. A shares, restricted to domestic investors, rose by 3.65% or P1.50 to P42.50 while its B shares, open to all investors, gained 3.61% or P1.50 to P43.

Index heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Co., however, shed 0.62% or P15 to P2,395.

Despite yesterday’s encouraging performance, Irving I. Ackerman of I. Ackerman & Co. said the worst is not yet over.

"Subprime and financial issues still hound US and this might affect the performance of the market. The US government is undoubtedly helping ease the woes but these problems are far from being solved," Mr. Ackerman said.