GOLD resources at the Sorowar deposit of Allied Gold’s Simberi project in Papua New Guinea have increased by 611,000 ounces following the latest drilling campaign and mineralization remains open.

The additional amount brings total Simberi gold resources, including inferred, indicated and measured resources for all material types, to about 3 million ounces.

The first gold has been poured at Sino Gold’s White Mountain Gold Mine in Jilin province, China .

Gold production averaging 65,000 ounces per annum is planned to result from design mill throughput of around 650,000 tonnes per annum and overall gold recoveries averaging 80%. Production is expected to ramp up to these levels over the course of 2009.

White Mountain is 230km south-southeast of Changchun , the capital city of Jilin Province in northeast China . Sino Gold owns 95% of the project and the surrounding 128sqkm exploration licences.

The Japanese conglomerate ITOCHU Corporation has signed an agreement providing it with the right to earn up to a 75% interest in Pure Nickel’s MAN nickel project in Alaska .

The exploration and option agreement will see ITOCHU invest up to $40 million in further exploration and development of the 720sqkm property.

Axiom Mining has suspended exploration activities in Vietnam while an extension of the Quang Binh Mineral Exploration Licence is obtained and final formalities preceding the grant of a Mineral Exploration Licence in Quang Tri are completed.

All provincial and central government approval documents have been issued and Axiom is hoping extension and application processes will be completed early in 2009 when the rainy season will have abated and investment conditions are expected to have improved.

This report on Khan Resources has been prepared by Uraniumletter International editor Marino Pieterse and is kindly reproduced in The ASIA Miner weekly electronic news service.

In early August of 2006 Khan Resources successfully completed an initial public offering of 3.07 million units at a price of Can$1.50 each, for total proceeds of Can$ 4.6 million.

Khan is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of uranium properties in Mongolia .

Significant gold intercepts are being obtained from trench sampling at East Asia Minerals’ Miwah Gold Project in Aceh Province , Indonesia , while a new zone of mineralization has also been discovered to the northeast.

The latest results, including 6 metres @ 6.67 grams/tonne gold, 12 metres @ 2.14 grams/tonne gold and 8 metres @ 1.14 graams/tonne gold are from the eastern half of the Miwah Bluff area.

Porphyry copper-style mineralization has been encountered in all holes drilled in a program that began during the June quarter at Royalco Resources’ Gambang prospect in the Philippines .

Despite some weather-related delays, diamond drilling is continuing and a total of five holes comprising an aggregate 1886 metres have been completed.

Intex Resources has signed an agreement with a municipality that gives it access to land needed for a process facility for the Mindoro Nickel Project in the Philippines .

The company has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Municipality of San Teodoro in the province of Oriental Mindoro .

It is one of four municipalities Intex has identified as candidates for the construction of the processing plant for the project.

Exploration by Ivanhoe Mines continues in northern China , focusing on high-quality projects for acquisition.

During this quarter the company is continuing a program of reconnaissance field exploration in central Inner Mongolia and surrounding provinces.

Results from the final 83 drill holes at Mindoro Resources’ Agata North Nickel Laterite Project in the Philippines reveal that the limonite horizon averages 1.06% nickel, 0.13% cobalt and 43.36% iron over an average thickness of 1.63 metres while the underlying saprolite horizon averages 1.23% nickel over an average thickness of 3.85 metres.

Kalimantan Gold Corporation has appointed Arif Hadian as manager of its Coal Division.

Arif Hadian, who is a geologist, has worked in the East Kalimantan region for a number of years and has extensive experience in the coal sector, working for large international companies such as BHP Billiton, Essar and Sumitomo Corporation.

An upgraded estimate for Marengo Mining’s Yandera Copper-Molybdenum Project in PNG has significantly increased indicated resources to 527 million tonnes @ 0.38% copper equivalent and inferred resources to 766 million tonnes @ 0.33% copper equivalent.

The indicated resource has a mineral inventory of 1.49 million tonnes of contained copper and 122 million pounds of contained molybdenum while the inferred resource provides 1.91 million tonnes of contained copper and 140 million pounds of contained molybdenum.

EESTECH and Aryan Clean Coal Technologies, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aryan Coal Beneficiations of India, will establish a joint venture to introduce three 10MW Hybrid Coalmine Gas Technology (HCGT) power plants to the underground coal mines of India in the next five years.

Kalimantan Gold Corporation has acquired the remaining 25% interest in the KSK copper-gold project in Central Kalimantan.

Acquisition of the remaining 25% of the Contract of Work (CoW) that the company did not already hold follows the recent receipt of approvals from Indonesian regulatory authorities for the transaction that was initially announced in October 2007.

Kalimantan Gold deputy chairman and CEO Rahman Connelly says: "Owning 100% of the KSK CoW greatly simplifies what was a complex corporate structure of this valuable mineral asset.

PanAust Limited has signed a long-term sales agreement with Tongling Nonferrous Metals, operator of China’s largest copper smelter, for supply of copper - gold concentrate from its Phu Kham Copper - Gold Operation in Laos.

The contract is for an initial four-year period to December 2012 and can be extended by agreement. Total concentrate tonnage for the first four years is 80,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) and treatment and refining charges will be negotiated annually.

In addition to the new contract with Tongling, PanAust has also agreed terms with a metal trader for the spot market sale of a further 20,000 dmt of concentrate for delivery this year.

IT companies Inmarsat and Vizada are bringing the latest in satellite communications to the mining sector in the Philippines.

They have introduced Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN), a mobile satellite service that offers high-quality voice and high-speed data connectivity from the world’s most remote areas.

Results of further drilling from Mindoro Resources’ Agata North Nickel Laterite Project in the Philippines are consistent with previous results and continue to be of economic interest.

With another 21 holes completed the limonite horizon averages 1.10% nickel, 0.12% cobalt and 46.04% iron over an average thickness of 3.18 metres. The underlying saprolite horizon averages 1.26% nickel over an average thickness of 7.83 metres.

The resource delineation drilling program was recently terminated at Agata North, with about 80% of the mineralization drill-defined.

OM Holdings remains on track for annual production of 41,200 tonnes of high carbon ferro manganese from its Qinzhou Smelter in Guangxi, China.

The company achieved production of 8284 tonnes during the September quarter from one operating furnace and is confident of meeting its annual target despite the uncertain and volatile outlook for the steel and manganese market for the last quarter of 2008.

The steady demand for high carbon ferro manganese, together with record high prices, enabled the division to achieve a strong operating profit for the September quarter, offset by higher raw materials costs.

SouthGobi Energy Resources has increased its working interest in the Mamahak Coal Project in Indonesia.

The company’s interest in the East Kalimantan project has been boosted from 56% to 85% at a cost of $13.2 million, comprising $8 million in cash and 320,000 SouthGobi shares.

Drilling at the Blongas II target of Southern Arc Minerals’ Selodong porphyry copper-gold prospect on west Lombok Island, Indonesia, has confirmed the continuity of medium to high-grade mineralization.

The latest drilling returned a mineralized intercept of 472.6 metres @ 0.16% copper and 0.28 grams/tonne gold from 98.2 metres, including 284.95 metres @ 0.20% copper and 0.35 grams/tonne gold from 172.20 metres, 101 metres @ 0.28% copper and 0.56 grams/tonne gold from 276.70 metres, and 47 metres @ 0.34% copper and 0.74 grams/tonne gold from 276.70 metres.

Analysis of an intensive field appraisal campaign by Oilex Limited on the Cambay oil field in Gujarat, India, has returned positive results which validate the potential of this significant asset.

The 6 month campaign had a primary focus on the Eocene and deeper oil potential in the western part of the block and focused on assessing the commerciality of hydrocarbon resources allocated to the EPIII/EPIV interval.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold president and CEO Richard Adkerson has been appointed International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) chairman.

In addition, BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers has been appointed as ICMM vice chairman.

A surface diamond drilling program at Kentor Gold’s Savoyardy Gold Project in the Kyrgyz Republic has intersected gold in a new structure, further proving the project’s prospectivity.

A hole drilled into a previously unexplored structure 250 metres east of the Rudny prospect intersected an encouraging 11.5 metres @ 2.1 grams/tonne gold from 40.5 metres depth.

Additionally an underground diamond drilling program at Rudny continues to encounter gold intersections, including 0.9 metres @ 9.0 grams/tonne gold.

The surface drill program is planned to test the new structure with six holes along its 1.4km strike length.

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The ramp-up of Allied Gold’s Simberi Island gold project is back on track with September quarter production of 17,642 ounces meeting the company’s target.

The achievement confirms that the ramp-up is progressing following the implementation of measures to address commissioning and weather-related issues which impacted production in the June quarter.

Among the initiatives undertaken during the quarter was a significant increase in mining fleet capacity at the project.

Allied’s executive chairman Mark Caruso says: “By providing this boost to the mining fleet's capacity the company can now confidently expect to drive multiple pit pre-development works and ROM stockpiling capacity that are required to maintain the base load ore throughput to sustain production going forward.”

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India’s appetite for energy will continue to drive change in the sub-continent’s mining sector and create new opportunities for Australian businesses despite the global economic downturn, according to Austrade’s New Delhi-based senior trade commissioner Peter Linford.

Speaking at India’s largest mining industry event, the International Mining and Machinery Exhibition (IMME 2008), held in Kolkata from November 5-8, he said: “India is not affected as much by the global financial crisis as other markets including China.

“It's a much more domestically driven economy, relying less on exports as a percentage of the GDP. According to the IMF, India’s exports as a percentage of GDP were 21.2%, nearly half that of China’s at 40.7%.

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The fast-tracking of Churchill Mining’s East Kutai Coal Project is progressing well with the first stage expected to be in production by the end of 2009.

Heavy equipment has been brought into the area to clear access and speed up the drilling program. In addition, all drill rigs have been moved to the mine pit in order to complete the intense in-fill drilling program ahead of schedule.

This phase of the drilling program will also include the aerial survey of the resource area in order to convert the inferred resource to the measured category.

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Gulf Resources has made application to the Vietnamese Government for substantial coal concessions spanning two provinces in the Red River Delta coal basin near Hanoi.

The application was made following positive and productive meetings with representatives of Gulf’s Vietnamese CTL project partners, Hanoi General Export and Import Corporation (Geleximco), who accompanied a Vietnamese Prime Ministerial delegation to Australia.

The program of chalcopyrite leaching being carried out at Pacific Ore Limited’s Huogeqi project in Inner Mongolia, China, will be completed by the end of the first quarter in 2009.

At this point the leached chalcopyrite will be rinsed, sampled and removed from the leaching chamber.

TVI Pacific has secured an additional US$3 million to further advance construction of its sulphide project at the Canatuan mine on Zamboanga Peninsula in the Southern Philippines.

TVI and its Philippine affiliate, TVI Resource Development (Phils) (TVIRD), have signed an amended bridge loan agreement which provides for up to an additional US$5 million in bridge financing of which US$3 million is immediately available from the lenders and an additional US$2 million may be secured from a lender acceptable to the lenders.

Drilling is continuing to encounter strong near surface oxide gold mineralization at East Asia Minerals’ Binebase Gold Project on Sangihe Island, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Significant intersections of 27.9 metres @ 2.45 grams/tonne gold and 41.92 grams/tonne silver, 16.0 metres @ 4.04 grams/tonne gold and 18.18 grams/tonne silver, and 29.0 metres @ 1.24 grams/tonne gold provide added confidence to the resource drilling of the leachable near-surface oxide deposit.

The mining industry in Africa will be showcased during the 14th annual Investing in African Mining Indaba at Cape Town, South Africa, from February 9-12.

The event will attract miners, explorers, project developers, mining analysts, fund managers, investment specialists, ministers and government representatives, and has been expanded to consume the entire Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Two Austrade initiatives in February will provide Australian mining companies and support businesses with an insight into the South East Asian mining industry as well as possibilities for expansion.

There will be a mining mission to the Philippines while Austrade is also organizing the OZmine exhibition in Indonesia.

Grange Resources has agreed to sell a 30% stake in the eastern extension of the Southdown Magnetite deposit to Sojitz Resources and Technology.

Grange already has a joint venture with Sojitz as a 30% joint venture partner on the three mining leases covering the western end of the Southdown Magnetite deposit and as a result of the sale Sojitz now has a 30% stake in the whole of the project.

A product development program by Caterpillar is creating an autonomous system for blasthole drills used in surface mining operations.

This program demonstrates Caterpillar’s commitment to deliver a fully integrated suite of autonomous mining equipment, technologies and systems for enhanced safety, efficiency and productivity.

Metso Minerals is acquiring Australian company G & F Beltline Services, a provider of conveyor belt installations and maintenance services to the mining industry.

G & F Beltline Services is based in Jandakot, Western Australia, and the value of the deal is about EUR 7 million. The private family trust company will be integrated into Metso’s mining business line.

THE Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) focuses on mining innovation and developing new research, technology and knowledge transfer capacity that not only benefits the mining industry in Northern Ontario, but around the world.

It aims to add value to mining operations through value-driven R&D programs, to strengthen Northern Ontario ’s capacity to undertake world-class collaborative research, to establish networks of R&D expertise at local, national and international levels, and to develop highly qualified personnel for the minerals sector.

Pre-commissioning of CGA Mining’s Masbate gold mine in the Philippines will begin by the end of the year with first production expected in the first quarter of 2009.

CGA Mining technical director Geoff Jones says construction of the US$200 million mine, 350km south of Manila, is 85% complete and ahead of schedule.

The ramp-up of India Resources’ Surda copper operation within the Indian Copper Complex in Jharkhand state is nearing completion.

Surda is the company’s first mine development in India through its alliance with Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL).

In 2008 India Resources has completed the refurbishment of the existing underground mine and the nearby Mosaboni concentrator, introducing new modern mining and processing equipment and developing additional mining blocks.

Peninsular Gold’s subsidiary Raub Australian Gold Mining (RAGM) has completed construction of the 1.1 million tonnes per annum carbon-in-leach plant at the Raub gold project in Pahang , Malaysia , and commissioning has begun.

The plant will initially process the adjacent tailings reserve of about 8 million tonnes, which contains an estimated 202,000 ounces of gold. On average it is expected to produce about 25,000 ounces of gold per annum over the life of the tailings.

Perth-based engineering and environmental services firm URS has won a contract for finalization of Order of Magnitude Studies on Rio Tinto’s Sulawesi Nickel Project in Indonesia .

Kalimantan Gold aims to have an independent resource estimate for its Jelai gold project in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, by the end of the year following another encouraging group of assay results.

Four more holes from the latest round of drilling have returned the following encouraging intercepts: 6 metres @ 15.84 grams/tonne gold and 81 grams/tonne silver from the Mewet Vein, including 0.75 metres @ 62.27 grams/tonne gold and 256 grams/tonne silver and 2.85 metres @ 2.09 grams/tonne gold and 7 grams/tonne silver; 2.45 metres @ 4.45 grams/tonne gold and 11 grams/tonne silver from the Mewet Vein, including 1 metre @ 8.66 grams/tonne gold and 6 grams/tonne silver; 4.25 metres @ 1.64 grams/tonne gold and 1 gram/tonne silver from the Central Sembawang Vein, including 1.35 metres @ 2.99 grams/tonne gold and 2 grams/tonne silver; and 1.50 metres @ 1.24 grams/tonne gold and 1 gram/tonne silver from the Lipan Vein.

ITOCHU Minerals & Energy of Australia (IMEA) is forming a joint venture with Western Desert Resources to develop the Roper Bar iron ore project in the Northern Territory .

IMEA, owned by Japanese resources and trading conglomerate ITOCHU Corporation, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the Aus$15 million joint venture, which will also see it inject Aus$2 million cash into the Adelaide-based minerals explorer via a share placement.

Up to Aus$15 million will be spent by IMEA in the next six years to prove up the Roper Bar project’s hematite ore structures which are, in places, highly linear and visible above ground.

Western Mining Co ( WMC ) has made its first foray into Australia ’s ferrous resources sector by taking a 10% stake in Adelaide-based FerrAus Limited.

The Xining-based WMC is likely to benefit from FerrAus’ flagship projects, including the advanced and highly promising Robertson Range and Davidson Creek iron ore projects in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia .

Mincor Resources has discovered a major extension to the ore system of the Miitel Nickel Mine at its original Kambalda nickel operation in Western Australia .

A step-out hole nearly 600 metres beyond previous drilling has intersected strong, wide nickel mineralization in a channel structure interpreted to be the strike continuation of the Burnett Shoot at North Miitel.

Australian miners and explorers have been told to expect a ‘bank closed’ sign for at least the rest of the year unless they have exceptionally robust projects needing financing.

European boutique bank West LB Capital Markets said recently that the global credit crisis had dried up mining’s traditional access to non-bank project funding packages.

An initial resource estimate for Hellyer Resources’ Fossey Zone polymetallic deposit in Tasmania has doubled the existing resource inventory at the Hellyer Mine Project (HMP).

The initial combined indicated and inferred mineral resource at the Fossey Zone is 830,000 tonnes grading 9.1% zinc, 4.6% lead, 0.3% copper, 120 grams/tonne silver and 2.5 grams/tonne gold at a 5% (lead and zinc) assay cut-off.

Caterpillar has unveiled the next generation of mining trucks, including an electric drive range.

Along with improved safety features, Tier 2 compliant engines and new integrated technologies in the existing Cat mining fleet, the company has developed electric drive mining trucks.

Mines wanted:

ASIA's Resource Connections wishes to hear from companies who operate or have operated viable mines that have now shut down due to financial problems, environmental problems, etc.

ASIA's Resource Connections has investors and operators interested in new acquisitions.

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