Professional geologist, Laurie Stephenson, President & CEO of Impala Mineral Exploration Corp. announced today that he will begin an in-depth, on-site technical review of the company’s newly acquired Busolwa Gold Property.

LAKE VICTORIA GREENSTONE BELT

The property is located in the Lake Victoria Greenstone Belt in the south-eastern part of the Geita District in Tanzania – home to AngloGold’s Geita Mine with 18 million proven ounces and Barrick’s Bulyanhulu Mine with 12 million ounces highly productive mines with 2009′s annual production running at 250,000 and 200,000 ounces of gold respectively. Greenstone belts are known worldwide as potential hosts for base and precious metals.

OBJECTIVE OF ON-SITE TECHNICAL

The purpose of Laurie Stephenson’s on-site technical review is to begin analyzing data contained in an 85 page technical report written in 2000 that is not NI43101 compliant. It is the Company’s goal to have a consulting NI43101 Qualified Person onsite with in 2 weeks to begin writing a compliant technical report on the Busolwa gold property. Mr. Stephenson will also begin planning Impala’s 2009 work program. Read more

Source:
By KRISTEN HAYS Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

ConocoPhillips put its exploration efforts front and center Wednesday in an apparent effort to debunk Wall Street’s view that the Houston-based oil major grows by acquisition rather than finding its own oil and gas.

That view was bolstered when ConocoPhillips slashed $34 billion in asset values late last year to bring them in line with oil and natural gas prices that plunged from lofty highs as the worst recession in decades gripped the globe. The company also is eliminating more than 1,300 jobs.

Some analysts said the write-offs exposed the potential weakness in ConocoPhillips’ prevailing growth-by-acquisition strategy.

Bernstein Research analyst Neil McMahon suggested in a recent report that ConocoPhillips consider spinning off its exploration operation. Read more

Source:
By Tim Bradner
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Despite a dismal world economy, Alaska’s five large producing mines say they will remain operating and have mostly avoided layoffs. One gold mine has even added staff, the Alaska Miners Association told state legislators in a briefing in Juneau Feb. 25.

Two large mines that have been hit hard by sharp declines in zinc prices are the Red Dog mine north of Kotzebue and the Greens Creek mine near Juneau. While expenses are being watched carefully at both mines, no layoffs are planned, although the Greens Creek mine did have to reduce staff by five people. The company plans no further reductions, however, said Steve Borell, the association’s executive director.

Red Dog, an open pit mine, is the world’s largest producing zinc mine. It pays its 485 employees $50 million a year in wages and benefits and does another $110 million a year in business with support and supply companies.
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JOHANNESBURG (Keith Campbell at miningweekly.com) – China’s Shougang group, the country’s fourth-largest steelmaker, has announced that it is going to invest $1-billion in its Peruvian iron-ore mining subsidiary, Shougang Hierro Peru.

This was announced by Shougang group President Wu Bin after a meeting with Peruvian President Alan Garcia.

This investment will boost Shougang Hierro’s production capacity to 10-million tons a year of iron-ore by late 2010. This will double the Peruvian operation’s production.

Shougang has been active in Peru since 1993 and Shougang Hierro is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese group.

With its head office in Lima, Shougang Hierro is the largest iron-ore producer on the west coast of the Americas. It operates a mine with openpits, beneficiation plants and a port.

These are located on the Peruvian coast, some 525 km south of Lima. Read more

Arianne Resources Inc. previously announced on August 21, 2008, the filing of a preliminary prospectus in order to list its subsidiary Oroplata Exploration inc. (“Oroplata”) on the TSX Venture Exchange. The financial crisis happened shortly after and the Company could not complete the IPO for Oroplata. Arianne wishes to inform its shareholders that it is actively working on Oroplata’s financing and confirms that the Oroplata share distribution dividend will take place as soon as market conditions improve. Oroplata owns two mining properties in Mexico including El Rey that contains historical resources in gold and silver.

2008 exploration results from El Rey, Sinaloa, Mexico : Following an IP geophysical survey and recent field works, Oroplata is pleased to announce the presence of a highly anomalous zone located in the North-West sector of the survey grid. The anomalous sector covers an area of 100,000 square metres and shows a magnetic relief generally flat to moderate. It is constituted of many PP anomalies of moderate intensity that could be oriented NW-SE to W.SW-E.NE, that will require more definition. To this day, this zone remains open in the west part of the survey grid (www.arianne-inc.com/fichiers/oroplata_overview.pdf)
Read more

Source: RUSSELL GOLD and BEN CASSELMAN, WJS
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Sharply lower energy prices are rippling through the oil industry, with Chevron Corp. warning Thursday of a decline in profit and oil-field services giant Schlumberger Ltd. laying off workers around the world.

Chevron said its earnings for the fourth quarter would be “significantly lower” than the previous period. The San Ramon, Calif., company said it will take “well above” $300 million in after-tax charges for the quarter and forecast a $625 million gain on an “asset-exchange transaction” but didn’t provide further details.

Schlumberger, meanwhile, said it plans to lay off about 1,000 workers in North America, or about 5% of its work force in the region. The company also is cutting some of its 65,000 overseas workers but said it doesn’t yet have exact figures. Halliburton Corp., Schlumberger’s largest rival, also said Thursday that it will cut jobs but provided no details.

Chevron’s warning notwithstanding, the company still is expected to report sizable earnings. Chevron, the second-largest U.S. based oil company by market value, behind Exxon Mobil Corp., reported a $7.9 billion profit in the third quarter, a period in which oil prices reached a record close of $145.29 a barrel.
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Virginia Uranium, Inc. announced late Monday its intention to merge with Santoy Resources, Inc., a Canadian mineral exploration company with interests in uranium, oil, gas, methane and gold deposits in Canada.

The merger, which will involve the exchange of stock, cash and future interests, would give the combined company additional money, expertise and investment backing to open up the Coles Hill deposit in Pittsylvania County for mining. Virginia Uranium has been at the forefront of efforts to overturn Virginia’s 25-year moratorium on uranium mining.
“It’s really a way for us to raise money, for the future and long term of the project,” Walter Coles Sr. of Virginia Uranium, Inc., told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

Santoy signed a letter of intent to acquire interests in three entities — Virginia Uranium, Inc., which is based in Virginia and controls the rights to the Coles Hill deposit near Chatham; Virginia Uranium Ltd., a Yukon corporation; and VA Uranium Holdings, Inc., also based in Yukon. Virginia Uranium, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of VA Uranium Holdings, and Virginia Uranium Ltd. holds a 12 percent minority interest in VA Uranium Holdings.

As a result of the deal, Santoy will take a 20 percent stake in VA Uranium Holdings. Santoy will also put up $3.5 million in cash as part of its investments in VA Limited and VA Holdings.
In a statement, Santoy said it “is pleased to proceed with this transaction as it gives the Company a significant position in a uranium project situated in a stable political location.” The Coles Hill uranium deposit, located on Walter Coles’ family farm, is one of the largest untapped uranium deposits in the United States and worth an estimated $10 billion.

The combined company will be led by Norm Reynolds, currently chief executive officer of Virginia Uranium Ltd., Reynolds is expected to be appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the new corporation. Walter Coles Jr., currently Executive Vice President of VU Limited, is expected to be appointed Executive Vice President of the new company. Ron Netolitzky, currently Chief Executive Officer of Santoy, will continue his active involvement in the company as a director. Mike Cathro of Santoy will serve as vice-president of exploration.

The merger of Santoy and Virginia Uranium must be approved by Canadian authorities. The companies expect to remain incorporated in Canada.

Santoy describes itself as a “junior Canadian mineral exploration company” which has focused on four main geographic locations for uranium mining: the Prolific Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Southeast British Columbia, Otish Mountains of Quebec and in the Central Mineral Belt of Labrador. With the price of uranium steadily increasing, the company says it has a record of success in the discovery and development of uranium deposits and “of taking uranium discoveries through to feasibility study.”

The fate of the Coles Hill project will depend on efforts to lift Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining, which was put in place in 1983 when Marline Uranium last attempted to mine the Coles Hill site. After a proposed feasibility study died this year in the General Assembly, legislators called on the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission to sponsor a feasibility study, to be conducted by the National Academy of Sciences or a similar scientific organization. The scope of the study has yet to be determined, and the Coal and Energy Commission also must determine how the study will be paid for.