Brazil’s Vale says may expand Carajas Serra Sul mine, doubling output

Vaaldiam Mining net loss more than tripled in the first quarter to $7.6m after suspending operations at the Duas Barras diamond mine in Brazil. By close of trade on Wednesday shares in the company had fallen 21%, close to an all-time low leaving it with a market capitalization of a paltry $12m, a far cry from the $150m-plus valuation it commanded a decade ago. Vaaldiam said it will now focus on the development of the Brauna mine in Brazil after it paid $6.5m to increase its stake in the project to 51% in March. It has two other diamond mines in the country that are on care and maintenance.

Reuters reports that half of contractors in a strike at Chile's El Teniente mine have ended their strike. The market news is quoted as saying: Mine owner Codelco [CODEL.UL] expects to lift output to 51 percent capacity on Thursday after the world's top underground operation slowed production to 40 percent capacity over the weekend to protect staff workers amid escalating violence by protesters.

Capella Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:KPS)(PINK SHEETS:CPSJF) is pleased to announce that it has discovered two new mineralization zones at its Lajitas gold-copper project in northern Chile as a result of the recently completed airborne hyperspectral imaging survey by SpecTIR LLC of Reno, Nevada.

Barrick Gold is suing Goldcorp over the El Morro copper mine in Chile, the Globe and Mail reported yesterday. According to the newspaper: Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp., (ABX-T44.24-0.39-0.87%) the world’s largest gold producer, is fighting Goldcorp Inc. (G-T46.82-0.59-1.24%)after the Vancouver company scooped up a majority stake in the El Morro development, one of the largest known copper and gold deposits in South America. Barrick alleges Goldcorp’s deal to buy Swiss miner Xstrata PLC’s 70-per-cent stake in El Morro was done illegally and is suing both parties, along with New Gold Inc., (NGD-T9.09-0.06-0.66%) which has a 30-per-cent stake in the project.

The world’s fifth largest copper mine, Chile’s El Teniente, worked at less than half of capacity on Monday as most workers stayed […]

Wesgold Minerals has struck an option agreement with a polymetallic property in Colombia. According to Canadian Press, Wesgold has acquired an option to buy up to 51 percent of a property that hosts iron-oxide-copper-gold deposits: The Vancouver-based junior miner says it bought the option for an initial 11 per cent interest in the property, known as the Cordoba Property, from Minatura International LLC for a total cash cost of $4 million. The property consists of a mining concession contract and several mining claims covering 25,790 hectares, about 200 kilometres north of Medellin.

The rebranding of former fiery leftist Ollanta Humala apparently struck a chord with Peruvian voters as exit polls Sunday showed the former army commander is leading the race to become Peru's next president. The 48-year-old Humala declared victory late Sunday night in an apparently razor-thin win. He would succeed President Alan Garcia on July 28. Image from Agência Brasil under Creative Commons license.

Mammoth Energy Group, a lithium and alternative energy mining company, announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary Compania Lithium Investments Limitada of Chile has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire six concessions for a total of 2471 acres (1000 hectares) of lithium concessions located in the Salar de laco in northeast Chile. "The Salar de laco is approximately 10 miles from the border of Argentina and approximately fifty miles away from the Salar de Atacama, Chile's largest mined lithium reserve," said William Lieberman, President of Mammoth Energy Group.

Colombia Crest Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:CLB)(PINK SHEETS:ECRTF)(FRANKFURT:EAT) is pleased to announce the discovery of porphyry gold-style alteration in the first of nine target zones being explored on the Fredonia and Venecia properties (see news release dated April 12, 2011). Alteration mapping of the highest-priority target, now named "Arabia", has delineated an area of quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration with dimensions 700 meters east-west by 900 meters north-south which is surrounded by a halo of propylitic alteration. Image by Colombia Crest Gold Corp.