SSR Mining stakes C$31 million in Silvercrest

Canadian base metal and coal miners were the nation's economic bright spot in April, according to report from Statistics Canada released on Thursday. The study, which looked at gross domestic product by industry, found that mining grew strongly while the rest of the economy was mostly flat.

Stocks in Labrador Iron Mines Holdings ended up 5% in Toronto on Thursday after reporting that on June 29, 2011 the first loaded iron ore train departed Silver Yards for the Port of Sept-Iles travelling over the TSH and QNS&L railways. This historic event is the first commercial iron ore train from the Schefferville area in almost 30 years. Labrador is developing twenty direct shipping iron ore deposits in western Labrador and north-eastern Quebec. LIM’s properties are part of the historic Schefferville area iron ore district where mining of adjacent deposits was previously carried out by the Iron Ore Company of Canada from 1954 to 1982.

Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK) ("Teck") announced today that it has priced its previously announced offering of senior unsecured notes. Teck will issue US$2.0 billion in aggregate principal amount of notes, consisting of US$300 million aggregate principal amount of 3.15% notes due 2017, US$700 million aggregate principal amount of 4.75% notes due 2022 and US$1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 6.25% notes due 2041.

SW Radio Africa reports the seemingly unilateral decision by the chairman of the international diamond trade watchdog to allow Zimbabwe to resume diamond exports has been rejected by among others the United States, Canada and Israel. Some members of the industry body want to keep a ban on exports of Zimbabwe's diamonds which could potentially be worth $2bn/year and include a vast stockpile built up during international sanctions, because of ongoing smuggling out of the rich Chiadzwa fields and reports of sustained human rights abuses there.

The Micronutrient Initiative (MI) and Teck Resources Limited (Teck) announced today they are joining hands in a new partnership to develop and sustain zinc treatment programs to help save children's lives.

Bayfield Ventures announced a major gold and silver intercept on its 100% owned Burns Block property in the Rainy River District of north-western Ontario. The Burns Block is situated adjacent to the east and on strike to Rainy River Resources' multi-million ounce gold deposit.

Cameco invests third tranche investment of $5 million for further development of Uranium Equities’ PhosEnergy Process. Demonstration Plant construction completed and undergoing final commissioning for the recovery of uranium as a by-product of phosphate fertiliser production.

Peregrine Diamonds reported the discovery by drilling of three new kimberlites, CH-56, CH-57 and CH-58, on the Chidliak project ("Chidliak" or "the Project"). Chidliak is located on southern Baffin Island approximately 100 kilometres northeast of Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, Canada.

The caribou population in the Athabasca Oil Sands area in Alberta, Canada could be extinct in 30 years due to human activity, according to new research. Wolves have been blamed for the dwindling caribou population in parts of Alberta, but research published in the June issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment says human activity related to oil production and the timber industry could be more important than wolves in the caribou population decline.