Crescent Gold Limited is pleased to announce a maiden probable gold reserve of 54,000 ounces near surface at its newly acquired Apollo Deposit in Laverton, Western Australia. Mining operations have been fast tracked and are scheduled to commence in the third quarter of this year. New drilling results and resource modelling had confirmed the probable gold reserve of 770,000 tonnes and at average grade of 2.2 grams per tonne Au (g/t gold) at the company's newly acquired Apollo deposit, less than 10 kilometres southwest of Laverton. Crescent Gold acquired the project last year from the former owners, Barrick Gold and Carbon Energy.

The first of Sandvik’s revolutionary new DPi Series surface top hammer drill rigs - the biggest top hammer of its kind in Africa - has been commissioned at Independent Quarries in East London, South Africa and two more are on order. The intelligent self-propelled, self-contained crawler has been introduced to meet the rigorous demands of production drilling, quarry and mine development, pre-splitting and dewatering. There are already 15 DPi rigs operating in other parts of the world.“The new DPi Series reflects 20 years of experience in quarrying and open pit mining in the hole range of 76 to 152 mm, drilling deeper holes more accurately than ever before,” Cornel Burger, Sandvik’s General Manager Operations & Construction, says. The machine’s 33 kW rock drill is now the biggest available on the market.

After days of discussions with an oil and gas industry association, Environment Canada has confirmed a substantial rise in greenhouse gas pollution […]

Alberta’s oilsands could deliver $67.5 billion a year into provincial government coffers by 2044, says a new report from the Canadian Energy […]

Minera Andes announced net income of $17.0 million ($0.06 per share basic and diluted) for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, an increase of $19.9 million compared to a net loss of $2.9 million ($0.01 per share loss basic and diluted), as restated, for the same period in 2010. The increase is primarily attributable to the strong performance of the San José Mine where our 49% ownership interest is reflected in our Income from Investment in Minera Santa Cruz S.A. ("MSC") which increased from $0.1 million in Q1 2010 to $11.7 million in Q1 2011. Comparing Q1 2011 to Q1 2010, silver ounces sold at MSC increased from 739,000 ounces ("oz") to 1,342,000 oz and gold ounces sold increased from 14,000 oz to 18,000 oz, reflecting increases of 82% and 29%, respectively.

Copper Mountain Mining announced that construction of the processing plant is complete and on scheduled for June 2011 production from the Copper Mountain Mine. Mining is proceeding as planned and has been delivering ore to the primary crusher since mid April. The Company has been stock piling ore as part of preproduction mining activities.

Local and state officials in Jenner Township, Pennsylvania, have declared a recently-finished acid mine drainage treatment site to be used for public education, Daily American reports.

The new passive treatment system will take discharge from the former Lion Mining Co. Grove No. 1 deep mine closed in 1998 and combine it with a public pavilion, additional wetlands and tree plantings, according to state Department of Environmental Protection officials. “That’s part of the plan. You want to get the public involved and let them know, educate them about these issues,” Greg Shustrick, a watershed specialist for the Somerset County Conservation District said.

Construction activities have reached peak intensity on the 34-month Maxi Heap Leach Pad project for French nuclear company AREVA at its Trekkopje uranium mine in Namibia, which will feature in IM’s July issue. The Trekkopje JV, comprising Concor Roads & Earthworks as lead partner, together with Grinaker-LTA and Basil Read, reports that it has been consistently achieving its present productivity targets on what is a complicated project that requires precision planning and programme scheduling.

First Uranium announced total gold sales for its financial year ended March 31, 2011 ("FY 2011") of 142,630 ounces of gold, which is a significant increase over the 91,657 ounces sold at the end of March 31, 2010. The Company's consolidated revenue of $172 million for FY 2011, an increase of 86% from $93 million in revenue for FY 2010, resulted in the Company reflecting a $20 million gross profit margin from operations in FY 2011 compared to a loss of $18 million in FY 2010. Remembering that First Uranium remains in a capital development and growth phase, the consolidated pre-tax loss for the year was $76 million, which is a 19% improvement over the pre-tax loss of $94 million in FY 2010.