LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Discovery Metals Ltd said results from the soil geo-chemical survey at the Quirinus prospect confirms copper mineralisation as its strike length has been increased to at least 3,300 meters from 1,500 meters.

Assay results are pending and a diamond drilling program is planned to further assess the prospect, it added.

Managing director Brad Sampson said: ‘These results demonstrate the exploration potential of the company’s 6,400 km square tenement package in addition to the inferred mineral resources previously defined at Zeta, Plutus and Petra.’

‘We still have hundreds of strike kilometres of potentially copper enriched rocks in our tenements that we intend to explore,’ he added.
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VANCOUVER — /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — El Nino Ventures Inc. (“El Nino”) (TSX.V: ELN; OTCBB: ELNOF; Frankfurt: E7Q) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Allan Lines as Exploration Manager for the company’s exploration in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr. Lines has worked in the mineral exploration industry for the past 13 years, exploring for VMS base metals in eastern Canada, greenstone gold exploration in West Africa and, for the past several years has been managing exploration programs in the DRC Copperbelt for a TSX/ASX listed copper producer and a NYSE listed major company.

Mr. Lines started working in the Democratic Republic of Congo in early 2005. Since then he designed and supervised geochemical sampling programs, advised on project acquisitions, authored baseline environmental studies and planned and managed RC and diamond drilling programs totaling well over 50,000 meters.
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PERTH, Western Australia, Mar 27, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) — MINING CONTRACT FOR THE MASBATE GOLD PROJECT AWARDED TO LEIGHTON

CONTRACTORS

The Boards of CGA Mining Limited, Filminera Resources Corporation (“FRC”) and Phil. Gold Processing and Refining Corp. are pleased to announce that they have executed a 6 year mining contract with Leighton Contractors (“Leighton”), one of Australia and Asia’s pre-eminent and most highly regarded contractors, for the Masbate Gold Project in the Philippines. Leighton will provide the full mining fleet and associated equipment and will provide mining and technical services for the project.

It is anticipated that Leighton Contractors will commence on site activities in relation to the tailings storage facility this month. The initial work will comprise the construction of Stage 1 of the main embankment to a height of 20m above the natural ground level Read more

Egypt has announced a plan to sell oil and gas exploration rights in the south of the country.

A leading natural gas producer, Cairo hopes to sell twelve new contracts to continue building on its already large gas capacity.

The companies will be able to buy information about the areas up for sale.

They include blocks in the red Sea, Gulf of Suez and the North African nation’s eastern and western deserts.
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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expressed its willingness to help Sri Lanka in its oil exploration and refinery projects.

Saudi media reports said the Kingdom has made this announcement after bilateral talks between Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al Naimi and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development A.H.M. Fowzie yesterday.

The Sri Lankan Minister following the discussion had revealed that Sri Lanka is expecting to get Saudi expertise for the proposed expansion of country’s refinery capability from 50,000 barrels per day to 100,000 barrels per day.

Also, the Minister had revealed that there is a high probability for finding oil in the Mannar basin that covers almost 35,000 square kilometers that stretch from Mannar to Kalutara, the reports added. Meanwhile, Saudi Minister of Petroleum has expressed his government’s readiness to exchange their expertise with Sri Lanka in the field of oil exportation. Read more

By Enrico dela Cruz
Thomson Financial

Philippines — Shares in Philex Mining Corp. were lower in late trade Tuesday, extending a pullback for the fifth straight session and reflecting waning interest in miners as gold prices retreated from record-high levels.

Philex, the country’s biggest producer of gold and copper, was last down 30 centavos or 4.8 percent at P5.90.

Gold for April delivery settled at $918.70 an ounce, down $1.30 or 0.1 percent on Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices hit a record high of $1,033.90 on March 17.

Philex led the mining sector’s recent rally, driven by the continued rise in metals prices. Gold soared to all-time highs last week as investors hedged against a weakening dollar and rising oil prices. Read more

Philex Petroleum Corp., a wholly-owned unit of Philex Mining Corp., has acquired almost 20 percent of Petroenergy Resources Corp., the parent firm told the stock exchange Monday.

Petroenergy is a publicly listed company engaged in oil exploration and in providing technical services to other oil exploration firms in the Philippines. It has projects in various areas in the country and in Gabon, Africa.

Philex Mining said the acquisition would boost Philex Petroleum’s portfolio investment in oil exploration and production. It did not disclose the purchase price of the stake.

Philex Petroleum was incorporated in late December as Philex Mining’s primary vehicle for investments in oil projects. The subsidiary has an authorized capital of P2 billion.

Last year, Philex Mining bought 10.8 percent of Texas-based Pitkin Petroleum Ltd. for a total Read more