Vancouver-based copper mining company Capstone Mining Corp. reported Tuesday a $18.9m profit for the first quarter, up from the Q1 2010 figure of $14.76m. Cash flow from operating activities was $6.7m, helping the company end the quarter with cash on hand of $181.2m. Darren Pylot, Capstone President and CEO said in a statement that the proposed acquisition of Far West Mining is expected to give the company 200% growth in anticipated copper production from 2011 to 2016 from its Santo Domingo project in Chile. The transaction, if approved by Capstone and Far West shareholders, is expected to close in mid-June.

Chief operating officer of Alacer Gold Corporation Louw Smith told the Resources and Energy Symposium in the Australian mining city of Broken Hill that there were growth developments at both the company's operations in Western Australia and in Turkey.

Reuters reports: Rep. Henry Waxman's attempts to find out if a proposed controversial Canada-to-U.S. Gulf Coast oil sands pipeline will benefit Koch Industries appears to have hit a dead end. Representatives for billionaire brothers and oil magnates Charles and David Koch — major donors to GOP elections and influential conservative organizations — are evidently stonewalling the California Democrat about their possible financial interest in seeing the permit approved for TransCanada's proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline.

The boom in resource industry wealth flowing from iron ore and coal exports to China and India has created a record number of billionaires in Australia, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The latest to top the billionaires club Down Under is iron ore queen Gina Reinhart, who has become the richest person ever in Australia, worth an estimated $10.3 billion. Reinhart is the first woman to to top BRW's Rich 200 list. The list shows Australia now has 35 billionaires, five more than last year, and a cut-off point of $215 million, which is $30 million higher than last year's cut-off of $185 million.

Hot on the heels of a lacklustre listing by Swiss commodities and mining behemoth Glencore, news comes of another multi-billion dollar natural resources IPO going awry. Resourcehouse planned to raise $3.6bn on the Hong Kong market on Thursday but has now postponed the listing to at least the end of the month. The Australian iron ore and coal miner has made three previous attempts to go public in 2009 and 2010.

World number one fertilizer company Potash Corp, received a fillip from S&P on Wednesday after the ratings agency upped the company’s rating to stable from negative and reaffirmed its investment grade corporate credit rating of A-. S&P believes Potash Corp. will benefit from strong fundamentals in the potash business and from the fact that its mines are considered low cost and have long reserve lives. Potash Corp, worth some $46bn on the stock market, has attracted renewed interest from investors on the back of rising global food prices, record earnings at the company, and after a hostile takeover bid was scuppered by the Canadian federal government in November last year.

To support training programs and fend off a future skills shortage, Queensland will be providing up to two-million-dollar grants for industry groups and individual companies.

The Premier said the Skills Queensland Strategic Investment Fund would have A$50-million provided by the state government each year, along with the complementary funding contributed by industry. The fund was aimed at plugging skills gaps and at supporting growing industries like mining.

With stronger balance sheets, improved credit availability and stabilizing metal prices, PwC Tuesday forecast the recovery in global metals M&A is expected to continue for the balance of this year. Iron ore targets were the primary driver of global metals M&A activity during the first quarter of 2011, contributing almost 40% of the deals worth a total of $5.1 billion, a significant increase over full-year 2010 when iron ore represented only 20% of total deals.

Thelon Capital Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:THC)(FRANKFURT:TFHC) is pleased to announce that it has, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Clear Fork Mining, signed a second lease agreement with a private contractor to mine a second 600-acre section of its Jellico Coal Project, known as Miller Mt. It is scheduled to start production in calendar 2012. This mine site is projected to produce an average of 20,000 tons per month for approximately 7-10 years. Under the terms of the lease, Thelon Capital Ltd. will receive the greater of $7 per ton royalty or ~9% of gross sales price of the Coal. Thermal Coal is currently selling for $90 per ton and Blue Gem Coal is currently selling for $185 per ton.