Barrick gives up plans to acquire Newmont, will form Nevada JV instead

The quest to commercialize one of Latin America’s last undeveloped major gold deposits is one major step closer to a prospectively big pay day for its unlikely owner - a small gold explorer named Exeter Resources. A Canadian-headquartered company, Exeter recently completed a major milestone development. It announced a positive metallurgical study for the sprawling Caspiche gold-copper deposit in northern Chile’s gold-rich Maricunga mineral belt.

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.

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.

In the wake of a $15 million financing, CuOro Resources (TSX-V: CUA) is expanding what was already an ambitious start to its first drill program in Colombia. Since closing its qualifying transaction - options on two groups of Colombian minerals concessions - and joining active trading on the TSX-Venture board, CuOro has quickly raised cash, first through a $10 million financing announced in February, then through the latest $15 million financing, which brought its working capital to $30 million.

A planned dividend payment by steelmaker Siderar SID.BA was blocked by an Argentine judge on Thursday in the latest twist in a row linked to the government's efforts to tighten control over leading companies. The steel company had planned to pay a 2010 dividend of $359.5 million on Friday despite a ruling last month by the country's stock market regulator that effectively annulled the payment by declaring a shareholders meeting void.

Minefinders Corporation Ltd. (TSX:MFL)(NYSE Amex:MFN) today announced updated gold and silver mineral reserves and resources for the Dolores Mine. Fiscal 2010 marked the first meaningful exploration drilling program at Dolores since the commencement of the development of the mine in 2006 and this is the first update of reserves and resources for Dolores since 2008.

Though the hurdles of government approval and project financing remain, Orocobre (ASX: ORE; TSX: ORL) released a strongly positive feasibility study of […]

Mexico massively ramped up its gold reserves in the first quarter of this year, buying over $4 billion of bullion as emerging economies move away from the ailing U.S. dollar, which has dipped to 2-1/2-year lows. The third biggest one-off purchase of gold by any country over the past decade took Mexico's reserves to 100.15 tonnes -- or 3.22 million ounces -- by the end of March from just 6.84 tonnes at the end of January, according to the International Monetary Fund and Mexico's central bank.

CSN, Brazil's largest diversified steel group, said on Tuesday that net income jumped 38 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier thanks to robust sales of iron ore and lower sales costs. Sao Paulo-based CSN (CSNA3.SA)(SID.N) earned 616 million reais ($390 million) in the period, up from 447 million reais a year earlier, according to a securities filing. But this fell short of the 697 million reais profit estimate by five analysts in a Reuters poll.