Freeport shares off to the races on Grasberg update

Greystar Resources Ltd. (TSX:GSL)(AIM:GSL) reports that diamond drilling continues to encounter significant gold-silver-copper mineralization below and to the south of the oxide/transitional mineral resource on the multi-million ounce Angostura deposit in northeastern Colombia.

Thompson Creek Metals completed a $132 million equipment financing facility with Cat Financial Services Limited. Cat Financial has agreed to underwrite up to $132 million in mobile fleet equipment financing for Thompson Creek’s Mt. Milligan copper-gold mine located in British Columbia.

Newmont Mining is nearing completion of 100% ownership of what it believes will be Nevada’s latest major gold trend-Long Canyon.

Lago Dourado Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:LDM) (the "Company") announced today that it has signed an agreement with Geomin to acquire a 100% interest in the remaining 16 exploration licenses, previously under option, at its flagship gold project Juruena, in the Mato Grosso state of Brazil. The Company will now hold a 100% interest in the entire project which consists of 25 exploration licenses, covering approximately 70,000 hectares. There is currently one drill rig turning at Juruena with two rigs expected to be added in the coming weeks.

Canada's Kinross Gold (K.TO: Quote) will invest $1.1 billion in Ecuador's Fruta del Norte gold project until 2016 and could begin digging an underground mine next year, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Newcrest said in a brief announcement today that it has suspended operations at the Bonikro gold mine "as a precautionary measure" and evacuated expatriates to neighbouring Ghana. This is not the first time Bonikro has had to be closed - a mine gained late last year with the takeover of Lihir Gold with its much larger prize of the Lihir Island gold project in Papua New Ginea.

Barker Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V:BML) reported results from the 2,000m trenching program on its silver/gold/lead Black Bear project. The 100% owned project on China Mountain is located 74 km northeast of Williams Lake, in the Cariboo region of British Columbia.

Newmont Nusa Tenggara, a unit of U.S. gold miner Newmont Mining Corp , plans to launch an initial public offering in the second half of this year, said Martiono Hadianto, the firm's president director, on Tuesday.

Ecuador expects companies including Canada's Kinross Gold to invest $7 billion in gold and copper projects in the next seven years, as the OPEC member tries to diversify its economy by encouraging mining. Natural Resources Minister Wilson Pastor said on Tuesday five projects will be signed in the next few months.