Shares of Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO: Quote) rose on Monday, after the miner's quarterly profit more than doubled, helped by record production and soaring silver prices. Net profit rose to $122.2 million, or 34 cents a share, from $50.6 million, or 13 cents a share, a year ago.

Despite missing Wall Street expectations, Coeur d'Alene Mines CEO Dennis Wheeler predicted 2011 "to be the company's best year ever by a wide margin with record cash flows driven by 20 million ounces of silver production and 250,000 ounces of gold production." Silver production for the first quarter of the year jumped to 4.1 million ounces, compared to 3.4 million ounces in the first-quarter 2010.

Ausenco has been awarded a contract to manage the C$237 million expansion of the Gilbraltar copper-molybdenum project in Canada for Taseko Mine. Ausenco’s Minerals & Metals business will manage on an EPCM basis the Gibraltar Development Plan 3 (GDP3) expansion, which will include the construction of a 30,000 t/d concentrator to complement the existing, currently operating, 55,000 t/d facility.

Baja Mining Corp. (TSX:BAJ) is pleased to announce the commencement of surface mining activities at its 70% owned Boleo copper-cobalt-zinc project ("Boleo"), located near Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Beginning in the week commencing May 2, 2011, the Company's surface mining team completed an initial machine operator training program and commenced mining activities to develop the surface facilities and underground mining portals that are scheduled for operation later this year.

The price of gold reversed half of a 1% rally to $1510 per ounce in London on Monday, easing back as the US Dollar rose on the forex market and European stock markets fell hard, but then moved back up in later trading. US crude oil contracts stalled after a 2.7% rally took them back to $100 per barrel.

Canada’s First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO:Quote) reported a 37 percent rise in its first-quarter profit, as declines in copper production were more than […]

Advanced Explorations Inc. (TSX-V:AXI) is pleased to announce progress in the ongoing Feasibility Study work for the C-Zone of its Roche Bay Iron Project in Nunavut, northern Canada. The Company has concluded multiple advantages may be drawn from an increased production of up to 5 million tonnes per year of concentrate (65%-66% Fe grade). This represents a 66% increase in production from the previously announced base case (3 million tonnes per year).

Rio Alto Mining Limited (TSX-V:RIO) is pleased to announce the first gold pour at the La Arena gold oxide mine in north-central Peru on May 6. The mining rate at La Arena is building up to a nameplate level of 10,000 tonnes per day of ore to pad with commercial production expected during Q3, 2011. Management is targeting gold production of approximately 75,000 ounces for 2011.

Taipei Times reports: Brazilian mining giant Vale opened a new US$1.7 billion coal mine in Mozambique yesterday, tapping the southern African country’s thermal and coking coal reserves of about 23 billion tonnes. Vale plans to start production in July and export 1 million tonnes of coal from the US$1.7 billion project this year, ramping up production to 11 million tonnes in a few years — and, local officials hope, boosting Mozambique’s current economic growth of 6.5 percent.