“It is becoming increasingly clear that concerns relating to energy security and climate change are set to drive a significant increase in global demand for uranium in those countries which rely upon nuclear power as a clean energy source,” Ferguson said in a statement. With more than one quarter of the world’s uranium resources, Australia is well placed to benefit economically from uranium mining and uranium exports, he added.
Expansion of the uranium industry could generate up to A$17 billion in economic benefits for Australia to 2030 and avert up to 15 billion metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere through the use of uranium to generate power, he said. Ferguson didn’t provide details of the source of the uranium. Australian uranium production is sourced from three mines.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) is assessing a massive expansion of its Olympic Dam project, which if developed could triple the mine’s uranium production to 15,000 metric tons a year.
The other two uranium mines are Ranger, which is operated by Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA.AU), a unit of Rio Tinto PLC (RTP), and General Atomics’ Beverley mine.

“We have just fixed our iron ore prices, and the new rates would come into effect in the next three to four days,” OMC managing director Santosh Sarangi told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Confederation of In
dian Industry.

After the price cut, OMC will sell iron ore lumps at prices ranging from Rs.1,700 to Rs.2,800 a tonne, and iron ore fines at Rs.700 to Rs.800 a tonne.

For lumps, the prices are down from a peak range of Rs.4,500 to Rs.5,600 a tonne while that of fines have come down from Rs.1,600 a tonne during the April-August period, Sarangi said.

The company sold 4.5 million tonnes of iron ore last fiscal and aims to sell 6.5 million tonnes this year, he added.

OMC is now planning to start entering into long-term contracts to secure offtake of its planned increase of its iron ore production.

“We plan to increase our iron ore production to 20 million tonnes by 2013-14. We will ensure that a significant part of it is sold once we start producing it, and we will start entering into long-term contracts,” Sarangi said.

The company will get into coal mining in the next one year. It has already been allotted three coal blocks in Orissa and will approximately mine around 24 million tonne of coal in various places in that state, he said.

Severstal took approximately 282.3 million shares of High River Gold Mines (TSX:HRG) at C$0.20 per share for a total consideration of C$56.4 million. Severstal was also issued approximately 40.7 million full warrants with an exercise price of C$0.64 per share. Following the close of the transaction Severstal will control 50.1% of High River Gold Mine’s share capital. Before the transaction was announced, Severstal already had a 9.9% interest in High River Gold.

The deal also included a substantial boardroom shakeup. David Mosher, CEO and President will step down, as will Valery Dmitriev. Severstal will place Roman Deniskin, Nikolay Zelenskiy, Evgeny Tulubensky and Oleg Pelevin to the board of directors. Nikolay Zelenskiy will be the new CEO.

Severstal is best known for its iron and steel operations in Russia, but in recent years has expanded its interests to include precious metals and coal. Last year it snapped up AIM listed Celtic Resources which owned interests in several gold and copper-gold projects in Russia and Kazakhstan. The company also recently completed the acquisition of PBS Coals which owns a coal mining complex in Pennsylvania, and the company also purchased a 61.5% stake in African Iron Ore Group which holds the exploration rights to an iron ore deposit in Liberia.

High River Gold has a portfolio of producing mines, mines under development, and advanced exploration projects in Russia and Burkina Faso with attributable gold production from these assets is expected to exceed 300,000 ounces “in the near future”.

Shares in High River Gold have been decimated in recent months after the Company breached its banking covenants when the ball mill driveline failed at the Taparko-Bouroum Gold Mine, forcing a prolonged shutdown. High River Gold had a financing facility with Royal Gold Inc and Standard Bank which required the mine to reach “project completion” by October 1, 2008. High River Gold is also due to pay Nomos Bank approximately US$15.2 million on November 21, 2008. The Company had been actively considering its strategic options, and Mark Rachovides, Murray Sinclair, Graham Farquharson and Bob Buchan had already resigned from the board of directors in October.

Repsol has successfully bid for three blocks, two in the Central Ridge/Flemish Pass and one in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin. The company was partnered by Husky Oil and Petro-Canada in the winning bids.

Over the period of the 2008-2012 strategic plan, Repsol aims to spend E9.3 billion on its upstream business, of which E4.8 billion will be spent on identifying and developing new exploratory areas.

In 2008, Repsol has brought online new production from the strategic areas of Gulf of Mexico, Libya and Peru, adding to its reserves and output.

Carteret County commissioners recently passed a resolution supporting oil and gas exploration off North Carolina’s coast, prompting local economic development officials to hold a conference on the topic to get further information.

“If states like North Carolina decide to do this, make sure you’re going to get revenue,” said Sidney Coffee, a former coastal adviser to Louisiana’s governor. Currently states receive 50 percent of the revenue from mineral leases on land but typically do not receive any payments for offshore drilling. Under current federal law, North Carolina would not receive any share of the lease revenues for drilling in federal waters.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service recently took the first step to offer leases for oil and natural gas exploration offshore of Virginia in an area about 50 miles from North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The federal agency, which manages leases for oil and natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf, is drafting a five-year plan for additional leases from 2010 to 2015. That plan will be released in January.

Jon Hrobsky, deputy director of the agency, said oil companies had expressed an interest in exploration in the mid-Atlantic region, which includes North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.

The Scraper Property is located approximately 72 kilometers (45 miles) north of Battle Mountain, Nevada, and is located directly on the northern extension of the prolific Carlin Trend of gold deposits. Click here to view maps: www.columbusgoldcorp.com/s/Maps.asp?Reportid=166727

The current program will consist of approximately 1,067 metres (m) (3,500 feet (ft)) of reverse circulation drilling in 3 holes.

Three types of targets exist at Scraper: 1) disseminated zones in the altered volcanic package, 2) Carlin-type gold deposits distal to an intrusive body, both in Vinini Formation and in the Lower Plate package at depth, and 3) either porphyry-hosted base-metal or polymetallic, gold-bearing skarns associated with the intrusive itself.

The property covers a volcanic center cored by a diorite intrusive cutting Upper Plate Vinini Formation cherts and siltstones. Highly altered volcanic rocks, coeval with the intrusive, lie marginal to the central core, with Vinini Formation exposed in erosional windows below the volcanic package.

The intrusive body is dated at 38.9 mybp, which is the age of igneous rocks associated with gold deposits elsewhere on the Carlin Trend. A detailed ground magnetic survey indicates that the intrusive body is approximately 1,676 m (5,500 ft) long, and 671 m (2,200 ft) in diameter. Detailed geologic mapping has been completed along with soil and rock sampling. Numerous gold anomalies were discovered in the grid soil sampling, and rock values to 0.8 g/t (0.02 opt) were found along altered structures.

The area was first explored by Western States Minerals, which drilled 13 holes to a maximum vertical depth of 198 m (650 ft). Western States drill hole SS-1 encountered a strongly anomalous gold zone from 93 to 143 m (305 to 470 ft), including 26 m (85 ft) of 0.86 g/t (0.025 opt) gold from 98 to 123 m (320 to 405 ft). High assays over 1.5 m (5 ft) intervals were as high as 1.9 g/t (0.05 opt) gold. The gold is hosted by cherts and siltstones of the Upper Plate Vinini Formation alongside the diorite intrusive rock. The gold mineralization has a Carlin-type geochemical signature.

Twelve widely-spaced rotary holes were later drilled by Cordex, mostly to maximum depths of less than 183 m (600 ft). One hole was drilled to 579 m (1,900 ft), and encountered altered carbonate rocks of the Lower Plate of the Roberts Mountain Thrust at a vertical depth of 503 m (1,650 ft). The Lower Plate rocks were mostly silicified, and contained anomalous gold, copper to 0.2% over 15 m (50 ft), and zinc to greater than 1% over 1.5 m (5 ft) intervals. Many of the other shallow holes had anomalous gold, zinc, and arsenic.

Andy Wallace is a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists and is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release. Mr. Wallace is a VP of Columbus Gold’s U.S. subsidiary and a partner of Cordilleran Exploration Company (”Cordex”), which is conducting exploration and project generation activities for Columbus Gold.

Gold output in October was 125 kilogrammes in October, down from 352 kilogrammes in the same month last year, the chamber said.

The production is a far cry from country’s peak in 1999, when Zimbabwe produced an average of 2,259 kilos a month, the Chamber said.

The figure is likely to drop even further after Zimbabwe’s largest gold mining firm stopped operations early this month at its five mines across the country, resulting in 5,000 people losing jobs.

The Chamber said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) — the country’s monopoly buyer — owes gold producers 30 million US dollars in unpaid fees, some dating back to end of 2007.

The yellow metal has traditionally been one of Zimbabwe’s main foreign currency earners, but the mining sector has been crippled in recent months by power cuts and shortages of foreign currency needed to maintain equipment.

The sector has also been hard hit by an exodus of experienced personnel.

Shortages of cyanide, drill steel and compressor spares have also hampered production.

The southern African nation, currently gripped by a post-election crisis, has been ravaged by the world’s highest inflation, last estimated in July at 231 million percent, along with a high unemployment rate and food shortages.

Myanmar Ivanhoe was into copper mining in Sabe hillock and Kyesin hillock near Monywa city in Sagaing Division in collaboration with junta’s No. 1 Mining Corporation. It suspended production in August due to lack of explosives and some chemical reagents needed for mining and refining ore. The company has now disclosed that they are likely to resume production next month.

“We suspended our production for about five months due to inadequate supply of explosives and chemical reagents used in processing and refining ore. Now we’ve got the required raw materials and hope to resume mining in December,” an official of Myanmar Ivanhoe told Mizzima.

During the suspension of work, the employees were asked to go on leave with five months’ salary.

The company began copper mining in Sabe hillock and Kyesin hillock in Monywa Township, Sagaing Division in 1992. These areas have a lot of copper ore.