Caledonia Mining to expand gold exposure in Zimbabwe

Syncrude's heavy equipment operator, Maggy Horvath, unearthed what may be a nearly complete plesiosaur and the 10th fossil found on Syncrude leases. The discovery contributes to Alberta's prehistoric history and the understanding of the evolution of life on Earth. The fossil, which Horvath found during her shift on November 14, 2011, is currently being examined by scientists and technicians from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. "This is a very rare find. It's a long necked plesiosaur, which is a marine reptile with a very long neck, small head and short body. The last one that was recovered was 10 years ago; it was recognized as a new kind and given the name Wapuskanectes," said Dr. Don Brinkman, Director at Royal Tyrrell. "It felt pretty good to call my son and let him know that I found a prehistoric fossil while working in the mine," said Horvath.

Pele Mountain Resources Inc. (TSX Venture: GEM; OTCQX: GOLDF) (“Pele” or the “Company”) today announced that processing design improvements have resulted in sharply higher recoveries of critical rare earth oxides (“REO”), including neodymium, dysprosium and yttrium oxides, (Pele’s “Big 3 REO”) at its Eco Ridge Mine Rare Earths and Uranium Project (“Eco Ridge” or the “Project”) in Elliot Lake,Ontario.

The Royal Canadian Mint has a hit on its hands after raising $600 million from the sale of its exchange traded fund alternative, exchange traded receipts backed by physical gold bullion held in the mint’s facilities in Ottawa, Ontario. The Canadian mint, which introduced the ETRs just over three weeks ago, says that ETRs are different than other gold investment products since the purchaser of an ETR owns the actual gold rather than a unit or share in an entity that owns the gold. Given the money raised, the Globe and Mail calculates that the ETRs may be the largest initial public offering of the year.

The Maritime Executive reports iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes totaled 5.7 million tons in October, a decrease of 11 percent from September, but an increase of 13 percent compared to a year ago. October loadings also were up 7.2 percent compared to the month’s 5-year average. Shipments from US ports totaled 5.1 million tons, an increase of 18 percent compared to a year ago. However, loadings at Canadian ports slipped 16.3 percent from a year ago.

Canadian gold royalties company Franco-Nevada aims to raise C$340-million in an equity offering, it said on Tuesday. The TSX- and NYSE-listed firm said it would use the cash for acquisitions, working capital and general corporate purposes.

Canada's net crude oil exports will triple by 2035 due to in situ production and not hydraulic fracturing, according to a report by the National Energy Board released on Tuesday. Oilsands accounts for 55% of Canada's oil production today rising to 85% 24 years from now. "By 2035, in the Reference Case, oil sands bitumen production is projected to reach 811 thousand m³/d (5.1 million bbl/d), three times the production for 2010."

Imperial Metals (TSE:III) is extending its Huckleberry mine in northern British Columbia by 7 years. The company said it plans to extend the Main zone pit and build a new tailings storage facility, which will keep the mine running until 2021, 7 years later than the previous plan to close the mine in 2014. The pit is estimated to contain 39.7 million tonnes of ore grading 0.343% copper, with an overall strip ration of 1.46 to 1. Since startup in 1997, the mine has produced an aggregate 870 million pounds of copper, 8 million pounds of molybdenum, and 105,000 ounces of gold and 3.4 million ounces of silver.

Boardroom chairs are being shifted at two large diversified mining companies, Vancouver-based Teck Resources and Brazilian powerhouse Vale SA, the world's second largest miner. Teck announced yesterday that Marcia Smith, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, will replace Doug Horswell as Senior Vice President, Sustainability and External Affairs. Horswell, staging into retirement, will work half-time in the company's Zinc and Health program. Meanwhile, Vale announced that coming this Thursday, CEO Murilo Ferreira will submit to the Board of Directors a proposal for a new structure of the company's Executive Board. Among the changes, the most high-profile is the replacement of CFO Guilherme Cavalcanti with Tito Martins, who currently runs Vale’s base metals division.

Nebraska legislators have voted unanimously to reroute the Keystone XL pipeline away from an ecologically sensitive region and the governor has signed new bills into law. The legislation is to pay for new environmental studies on the exact route the rerouted pipeline will take. The state and the proponent of the project, Canadian company TransCanada Corp. (TSE:TRP), agreed earlier this month to reroute the $7 billion project away from the Ogallala aquifer, a sprawling water table that provides water to cities and for irrigating farms. The new path would involve about 50 kilometres of pipeline. The company had long resisted changing the route, having already spent some $1.4 billion securing right of ways and stockpiling material for the project, which would deliver 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the Alberta oilsands to Texas refineries.