Hostages kidnapped from DRC gold mine released

Caledonia Mining increased gold production by 17% and nearly doubled its profit to $5,248,000 compared to $2,815,000 in the fourth quarter 2010. Announcing its Q1 results on Wednesday, the company also said that its average cash cost per ounce of gold produced decreased by 18% to US$648 compared to the fourth quarter 2010. As of March 31, 2011 the company had net cash and cash equivalents of $1,406,000.

Billionaire investor George Soros sold most of his holdings in the bullion-backed SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust (IAU) funds in the first quarter and bought shares of mining companies Goldcorp Inc. and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX), a government filing shows. Soros Fund Management LLC held 49,400 shares of SPDR Gold Trust as of March 31, compared with 4.721 million at the end of the fourth quarter, the filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed.  Flickr image is from the World Economic Forum.

Global mining company Rio Tinto has raised a total of $2 billion bonds in long-term debt bonds, it said on Wednesday. The offer, registered in the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, consisted of $700 million in 5-year notes with a coupon of 2.5 percent, $1 billion in 10-year bonds with a 4.125 percent coupon and $300 million in 30-year bonds paying a 5.2 percent coupon.

Gold producer Jaguar Mining Inc posted a quarterly profit that beat analysts' estimates helped by surging bullion prices, sending its New York-listed shares up almost 7 percent in extended trading. For the January-March quarter adjusted profit was $10.3 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with an adjusted loss of $3.7 million, or 4 cents a share, a year ago.

Barrick Gold announced today that it has received confirmation that the Investment Canada Act does not apply to Barrick's proposed acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Equinox Minerals Limited. This confirmation has been obtained in connection with the previously-announced offer by Barrick's wholly-owned subsidiary, Barrick Canada Inc., to acquire, subject to the terms and conditions of the Offer, all of the Equinox Shares at a price of C$8.15 per Equinox Share.

TSX and Amex-listed Extorre Gold Mines took a step closer to the development of its flagship mine Cerro Moro in Argentina on Tuesday with the approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment and the purchase of the 14,000 ha that cover the project. Extorre, which was spun out of Exeter Resource Corporation last year, said the Project Pre-Feasibility Study is expected in June 2011 and start-up for the high grade gold and silver mine is scheduled for 2012. Capital costs for the mine are some $130m and cash costs are estimated at $201/ounce. Extorre is worth close to $800m on the TSX and is sitting on roughly $33m in cash. The company also owns the Don Sixto projects, and other mineral exploration properties in Argentina.

Newcrest Mining , one of the world's biggest listed gold miners, expects to resume gold production at its Bonikro mine in the Ivory Coast after a stabilisation of political and security situation in the country, it said on Tuesday. The miner said the production impact had been around 8,000 ounces of gold per month. Newcrest suspended operations at Bonikro in late March.

HudBay Minerals Inc. has released its first quarter 2011 financial results. Net profit attributable to shareholders increased to $16.8 million or $0.11 per share in the first quarter of 2011, compared to $10.6 million, or $0.07 per share, during the first quarter of 2010. Earnings in the first quarter of 2011 included a charge of $5.8 million, or $0.04 per share, for transaction costs associated with the successful acquisition of Norsemont Mining Inc. in March 2011. Earnings grew during the quarter mainly due to higher metal prices and reduced exploration expense, partly offset by lower sales volumes, a stronger Canadian dollar and Norsemont transaction costs.

A gold explorer finding a million-ounce deposit is quick to say "world class", but when an established gold miner promises single-mine production of 750,000 ounces a year, eyebrows may rise. That's the production target for the Gold Fields South Deep mine in South Africa, an ongoing saga which was given further details by Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland at the recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Metals & Mining Conference, in Barcelona.