Monarch investment in Unigold’s Dominican Republic project lights up stock

Scorpio Mining achieved record mine operating earnings of $12.5 million in Q1 2011, an increase of 823% over mine operating earnings in Q1 2010 and 123% over mine operating earnings in Q4 2010. Net earnings were $6.6 million or $0.03 per share (basic) for Q1 2011 compared to $18.6 million or $0.17 per share (basic) for Q1 2010. The Q1 2010 net earnings included a $19.8 million gain on dilution and deconsolidation of Scorpio Gold Corporation ("Scorpio Gold"). Basic earnings per share of $0.09 in Q4 2010 was due to the inclusion of $12.4 million of non-cash corporate tax recoveries.

TSX and Amex-listed Extorre Gold Mines took a step closer to the development of its flagship mine Cerro Moro in Argentina on Tuesday with the approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment and the purchase of the 14,000 ha that cover the project. Extorre, which was spun out of Exeter Resource Corporation last year, said the Project Pre-Feasibility Study is expected in June 2011 and start-up for the high grade gold and silver mine is scheduled for 2012. Capital costs for the mine are some $130m and cash costs are estimated at $201/ounce. Extorre is worth close to $800m on the TSX and is sitting on roughly $33m in cash. The company also owns the Don Sixto projects, and other mineral exploration properties in Argentina.

Quadra FNX Mining announced on Sunday a US$724 million joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation to develop the Sierra Gorda copper-molybdenum project in Chile. The total cost of the mine is estimated at 2.8 billion and production is scheduled to start in 2014. Sumitomo has a 45% stake in the joint venture; Quadra FNX has 55%. Sierra Gorda is a copper exploration project located in the Atacama Desert, Region II of Chile. According to Quadra FNX's recently completed feasibility study, the production from current sulphide reserves will average 483 M lbs of copper, 25 million lbs of molybdenum, and 64 kozs of gold per annum over a 20-year mine life.

German technology and German know-how are to help the Colombian coalmining sector, underground mining in particular, to become safer and increase its production. A strategic co-operation is planned that is to comprise not only a safety partnership but also technology transfer. Juan Gabriel Ceballos Campuzano is the owner of Colombia’s old-established family mining firm Soc Central de Activos Mineros, based in the Colombian capital of Bogotá.

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.