Top miners squandered $200 billion during boom

SilverCrest Mines (CVE:SVL), a gold and silver miner operating in Mexico, announced today that the inferred resources at its La Joya property increased by 424% from 24.0 million to 126.0 million silver equivalent ounces.

IDEX News reports BHP Billiton's Ekati diamond mine produced 481,000 carats in the last quarter of 2011, a 29% decline compared to a year ago. 80%-owner BHP Billiton wants to sell the mine, but Ekati could fetch only $300 million to $500 million a new report shows.

Quadra FNX Mining (TSX:QUX) has updated the resource at its Victoria Mine in Ontario, Canada.

The Summit mine in southwest New Mexico is ramping up to commercial production this month.

The Globe & Mail reports Ivanhoe Mines, building Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi, will scrap a controversial “poison pill” that clears the way for Rio Tinto, which already owns 49% of the Vancouver-based company, to do a complete takeover. The shareholder provision would have triggered an automatic rights offer estimated at $73 billion.

Perceiving a cloudy future for world markets, Ivanhoe Mines (NYSE:IVN) announced that they had negotiated an additional US$1.8 billion bridge financing for Oyu Tolgoi.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 18, 2012) - Santa Fe Metals Corp. ("the Company") (TSX VENTURE:SFM) is pleased to report assay results from the November/December 2011 phase of the ongoing sampling program on its Don Indio project at Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila, Mexico.

Gold Reach Resources (CVE:GRV) enjoyed a 15% lift in its stock price today on news that it has quadrupled its resource estimate at the company's Ootsa Lake property in British Columbia, about 120 kilometres south of Smithers.

Mercator Minerals (TSE:ML) rose 5.5% today after announcing record production from its Mineral Park Mine in Arizona.