Nautilus Minerals has lodged 25 exploration licence applications covering prospective areas of the Solomon Sea in Papua New Guinea.

 These new applications, which are in addition to the 47 applications announced on November 20, cover an area of 63,950sqkm and brings to 186,343sqkm the total area held by Nautilus under exploration licence or licence application in PNG.

Asian Mineral Resources Limited 90% owned joint venture company, Ban Phuc Nickel Mines Limited (BPNM), has received formal Vietnamese central government approval for its Environmental Impact Assessment Report on its Ban Phuc nickel project.

The application for a mining licence for the project for which all required supporting documentation, including a feasibility study, are in hand is now being submitted

Considerable progress has been made through the last quarter on the feasibility study for Goldstream Mining"s Cairn Hill magnetite/copper-gold project, located adjacent to the Stuart Highway and 55km south east of Coober Pedy in South Australia. 

QGX reports that AMEC Americas (Vancouver) is currently finishing a metallurgical laboratory program on the gold and silver contained in oxide (gossan) at the Central Valley Zone of the Golden Hills project. 

 

Allegiance Mining has received further encouraging drill intersections from recent core drilling on the Melba Flats project, 10km north of Zeehan in Western Tasmania.

 Drill hole MF 75, designed to test for extensions of the identified copper-nickel-gold-PGM resource at Nickel Reward, intersected two zones of coarse grained sulfide mineralization interpreted as two branches of a single gabbro dike.

Rio Tinto and its joint venture partners have approved the development of the US$750 million (Aus$950 million) Clermont Mine, in Central Queensland, located 15km south-east of Rio Tinto"s Blair Athol Mine.

 

Oilex Ltd has received the approval of the Government of India for the assignment of 40% participating interests in the Bhandut and Sabarmati Fields PSC"s and additional 15% net participating interest in the Cambay Field PSC. 

Thor Mining PLC has granted an exclusive mandate for financing of its 100%-owned Molyhil Tungsten-Molybdenum Project in the Northern Territory of Australia to Penfold Marketing Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the specialist Australian-based metals marketing and investment company, Penfold Limited.

 

While low world stocks and the threat of strike action in Canada are pushing nickel prices to record levels, environmental sustainability will be the metal"s long term strength, according to Citigroup Investment Research global commodity analyst Alan Heap.

"Nickel"s inherent value in extending product life cycles, and its recyclability across a range of stainless applications make it unique among base metals," Alan Heap says.

Question: Is there any uranium exploration in New South Wales or likely to be?"
Barry Dawes Martin Place Securities managing director            

 Answer: "That"s probably a question you should put to the politicians rather than the bureaucrats.
Lindsay Gilligan, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries geological survey director 

Oxiana Limited has appointed Russell Griffin as general manager marketing.

Russell Griffin joined Oxiana in 2004 as marketing manager and has been responsible for Oxiana"s market development program to establish Sepon Copper cathode in the Asian market. 

YGC Resources has appointed of Iain J. Harris as a company director. Iain Harris was president and CEO of AirBC Limited from 1983 to 1995. Before that he was vice president, finance and administration with the Jim Pattison Group.

Rox Resources Limited has outlined two large high-grade soil anomalies at the Pha Sod 1 prospect on its Pha Luang lead-zinc project in Laos. 

 Anomaly 1 grades in excess of 5% combined lead and zinc, over an area of 400 x 200 metres. Anomaly 2 covers an area of 300 x 100 metres and grades above 4% combined lead and zinc.

 A total area of 600 x 500 metres has been sampled so far, with most soil samples grading greater than 1% combined lead and zinc, with a peak value of 21% combined lead and zinc in the soils.

Olympus Pacific Minerals has been encouraged by significant exploration results from its ongoing exploration on the Bong Mieu Gold property.

Olympus has recently completed 3020 metre drill program consisting of 66 shallow holes in the Bong Mieu East deposit area.

Mindoro Resources has announced a new high-grade gold-silver zone intersected at the Kay Tanda prospect in the Philippines.

Mindoro has conducted a further four reverse circulation drill holes at the Kay Tanda epithermal gold-silver zone, located in the Archangel Project, the Philippines.

Australian Solomons Gold Limited has announced significant results from the first six holes of its current 44 hole drilling program at the Gold Ridge Mine on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

Majestic Gold Corp has completed a 3700 metre surface core drill program and has an additional 18-hole underground drill program under way at the Song Jiaguo Project located in eastern Shandong Province, in China.

Sino Gold Limited has agreed to acquire a 19.9% shareholding in Golden Tiger Mining NL for approximately Aus$1.5 million.

GTX is focused on exploring for gold in Guangxi Province of China and its portfolio of exploration properties are complementary to Sino Gold"s exploration portfolio in the Golden Triangle.

Emerging Australian nickel producer, Allegiance Mining NL has started mining of nickel sulphide ore at its 100% owned Avebury Nickel Project near Zeehan West Coast Tasmania.

Fox Resources has repaid the $4 million project funding with Jinchuan Group Limited in December.

Kentor Gold is currently undertaking its winter diamond drill program on the company"s highly prospective Akbel property.

 Since the RD850 rig returned to Akbel in November, one hole (AKB DD007) has been successfully completed to a depth of 384 metres at Akbel South and a new hole (AKB DD008) was started in December at the prospective Ishak Kechuu site.

 

A recent landslide at Medusa"s Co-O mine which blocked the adit entrance to the mine was cleared within a week of the event.

On 10 January a landslide blocked the adit entrance to the Co-O mine. Round-the-clock work cleared the adit entrance and services were restored to the mine. The landslide occurred after two weeks of monsoonal rain.

Xstrata Copper has decided to exercise its option to acquire 62.5% of the Tampakan copper-gold deposit in the Philippines from the project"s current owner, Indophil Resources.

In a recent corporate file interview Pan Australian managing director gave a rundown of the current status of the Phu Kham project.

New ICMM Chairman and two new members added to council

 Rio Tinto chief executive Leigh Clifford has been appointed chairman of ICMM, succeeding Newmont CEO Wayne Murdy in the role. Leigh Clifford has served on the ICMM Council for three years. BHP Billiton CEO Chip Goodyear will be vice-chairman.