Results from the core drilling was highlighted by a hole that intersected 135 meters of 0.36% copper. Adjacent holes hit 45 meters grading 0.34%, 40 meters at 0.33%, 75 meters at 0.25% and 50 meters at 0.60% copper, the company reported.

The highlighted hole at the wholly owned New Mexico copper property was drilled on a portion of the property that had never been tested and extends the known mineralization to the south, tripling its size, the Toronto-based firm said. The firm holds another potential New Mexico copper mine in the area, the Mimbres property southeast of Freeport’s Chino copper mine.

Goals of drilling program

The goal of the fall 2011 drilling program was to test the north-northwest trending mineralized zone, which lies along the western margin of the porphyry intrusion and was defined previously by only three vertical holes, LM-44, LM-03 and LM-32.

The fall 2011 program utilized angle core drilling (one to the east and five to the west) because of the suspected high angle to vertical fracture control to the mineralization, the company said. Prior to the 2011 core drilling program, the Western Zone had dimensions of 79 meters wide and 545 meters long, and plunged steeply to the east. The 2011 core drilling clearly demonstrated strong high angle to vertical control to the mineralization and tripled its dimensions to 143 meters wide by 1,046 meters long.

An additional goal of the drill program was to determine the depth extent of the oxide copper mineralization at Lone Mountain. This most recent drilling revealed that copper oxide mineralization does penetrate deeper than expected, in excess of 380 meters deep. Copper One said it also found that the observed mineralized fractures in the porphyry are denser than modeled from previous shallow vertical drilling in the center of the intrusion.

The fall 2011 drilling program was performed under a first-of-its-kind state issued Part 4 Permit that allows Copper One the flexibility to drill up to 528 holes from up to 176 drill sites.

In 2012, the company said, it plans to conduct reverse circulation drilling in the Western Zone. This will be followed by core drilling to potentially expand the Western and Eastern Zones and test the depths of mixed-oxide sulphide-chalcocite zones in the Eastern Zone.

“The core drilling program was successful in expanding the Western copper oxide zone and confirmed the vertical to sub-vertical fracture control at Lone Mountain,” said Benoit Moreau, president and CEO. “A similar program is planned for 2012 on both the Western and Eastern Zones that are still open, with the objective to increase again the mineralization footprint,” he added.

The crushing and grinding facilities and the gold-processing plant have completed commissioning and have recently operated for one week at 79% of the 450 tpd design capacity during the final week of January 2012, the company said.

The gold-processing plant is now treating ore-grade rock, having run waste and low-grade rock for several weeks as part of the startup process. Head grades during the final week of January average 0.21 opt gold, although data is still being analyzed and this result is subject to minor revision, the company said.

The head grades are scheduled to rise during February as the processing plant works through the low-grade rock which has been stockpiled at surface for startup.

The processing plant at the Arizona gold mine is performing well, the company said, as indicated by the consistent and low-grade tailings assays, in the order of 0.03 opt gold during the final week of January. Low gold grades in the tailings indicate that most of the gold being fed into the plant is being collected in the gravity and flotation circuits where high grade concentrates are being produced.

The gold-processing plant has been treating ore grade rock for a short time and accordingly performance estimates are very preliminary in nature, Bonanza said. During the coming months, as more substantial tonnage is processed, the performance results will become more reliable, it added

Already adding capacity at Arizona’s newest gold mine

Gold reporting to the gravity circuit in the processing plant is higher than expected and as a result, the gravity circuit is being expanded to optimize recoveries, the company said. A Gemini gold table has been added to the gravity circuit and a second Knelson concentrator is being added.

These steps to optimize the gravity circuit recoveries at the new Arizona mine are aimed at improving overall performance of the gold-processing plant.

During the final week of January, overall gold recovery was 84%, although this result is subject to minor revision as the data are finalized. Bonanza’s objective is to maintain the low tailings grade as the head grade increases, which would have the effect of increasing the overall gold recovery.

Additionally, optimization of the gravity circuit is aimed at improving the gold recovery over the next several months. The gold grades of the gravity concentrates and the flotation concentrates were in line with or exceeded target grades for the final full week of January, Bonanza said.

As more tonnage of ore-grade rock is processed, these concentrate grades and other processing plant performance measures will become more reliably measurable.

Underground mine performance

Underground mine performance continues to increase to design levels, the company said. Ore and development waste are being mined in approximately equal amounts.

While not enough mining history has been developed to comprehensively compare the grade of the recently mined ore with the anticipated grades from the reserves, early indications are that ore being mined exceeds the grade as modeled in the reserve calculations, the company said.

Surface ore stockpiles are currently in excess of 4,000 tons of ore, which will allow the gold-processing plant to continue increasing throughput as the mine tonnages increase to provide feed to the processing plant.

The underground mine is nearing the completion of startup activities, with equipment, infrastructure, and personnel resources steadily improving. During the coming months, as the gold-processing plant works through the ore already stockpiled on the surface, Bonanza said its objective is to steadily bring the underground mine output up to target levels.

The Copperstone assay lab is operational, as are the surface office facilities, communication systems, truck wash bay, fuel depot, and other infrastructure necessary for the operation of the mine.

Plans have been formulated for resource expansion drilling at the western Arizona mine and the underground drilling rig owned by Bonanza is being refurbished as personnel are being hired to conduct the drilling campaign along with the assistance of Bonanza’s exploration personnel.

While preliminary in nature, the current exploration plan has the goal of commencing underground resource expansion drilling during March of 2012, the company said.

The Nevada mining company said this morning that to date, it has spent or committed $354.9 million, 2% below the feasibility estimate. The capital spent and committed to date represents approximately 30% of the total capital estimate of $1.2 billion for the heap-leach and mill expansions at this Nevada mine.

All equipment pricing is firm and includes freight and taxes. In the case of the mining equipment, the pricing also includes on-site assembly and commissioning. This portion of the capital program is expected to be funded through operating cash flow, the existing cash balance (at Sept. 30, 2011 that stood at $289 million) and equipment-lease financing of $300 million.

The Company has completed procurement of the long-lead equipment for the crushing and milling circuits through to flotation for the mill expansion at Hycroft. In addition to supplying the primary gyratory crusher, FL Smidth of Salt Lake City, Utah, will provide:

• the secondary and tertiary crushing units, comprised of four cone crushers and screens (Ludowici);
• 2 x 36-foot by 22.5-foot semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mills;
• 3 x 26-foot by 42-foot ball mills; and
• 1 x 22-foot by 41.5-foot regrind mill.

“Securing this critical equipment is key to remaining on track with our expansion plans at Hycroft,” said Scott Caldwell, president & CEO. “The procurement we’ve accomplished to date represents a commitment of roughly 30% of the current capital cost estimate of $1.2 billion and supports a smooth construction period.”

In addition to the crushing and milling equipment listed above, the company previously secured:

• 23 x 930E 320-ton Komatsu haul trucks (expected to be delivered between 2012 and 2014);
• 3 x EX5500 Hitachi hydraulic shovels (two are in operation and the third  is expected in the second quarter of 2012);
• 10 x Atlas Copco Pit Viper 271 production drills (three are in operation, the remainder are expected to be delivered between 2012 and 2014);
• 3 x Caterpillar 7495 electric shovels (expected in 2013 and 2014);
• 1 x Fuller-Traylor primary gyratory crusher; and
• ancillary mining equipment and infrastructure upgrades.

Delivery of the primary though tertiary crushing components is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of 2012 and the mills are expected to be on site at the Nevada mining operation by the fourth quarter of 2013. All crushing and milling components are expected to be on site well ahead of the timing required by the construction schedule. The mobile mining equipment is expected to be delivered over the next three years and completed by the end of 2014.

The updated mineral resource comprises an indicated resource of 101.4 million tonnes of 53.18 gpt silver for 171.3 million ounces and an inferred resource of 83.6 million tonnes of 36.42 gpt silver for 98.6 million ounces, the company said.

Wildcat also has identified and included in the revised resource a new silver-only zone which is amenable to standard cyanidation and Merrill Crowe recovery.

“We have been successful in increasing the total silver resource today by more than two times when compared to the previous 2010 resource at Hermosa and by five times when compared to the initial resource in 2007,” said Chris Jones, Wildcat’s president and CEO.

“Further, through definition drilling we have significantly upgraded the quality of the resource. The new resource reflects a full 64% of the contained silver ounces in the indicated category, which is more than double the portion contained in the 2010 resource. While achieving this increase, our discovery cost per ounce of silver added in the 2012 resource was minimal at C$0.056 per ounce.”

 New Upper Silver zone

The new silver-only zone (Upper Silver Zone) at the southern Arizona silver mine lies above and adjacent to the Manto Zone in the overlying volcanic rocks. The new zone has been included in the resource as a result of recent metallurgical testing that indicates that it is amenable to standard cyanidation and Merrill Crowe recovery, the company said.

The previously disclosed drill results for this zone reported silver grades ranging from 3.5 up to 175 gpt. Preliminary metallurgical testing indicates that recoveries for this material are expected to be in the 40 – 45% range with low cost, direct cyanidation. This new leachable Upper Silver Zone has the potential to positively impact the project because this material was previously considered waste. This zone remains open to the north, east and south for further expansion.

Updated mineral resource estimate

To date the company has completed 49,045 meters of a planned 51,850-meter drill program.  This 2012 mineral resource estimate includes drill and assay data up to mid-September 2011, which accounts for only 54% of the planned drill program.

Exploration on the Hermosa property continues with four drill rigs (two core, 2 RC) operating on site.  Wildcat said it expects to provide a further update to the current mineral resource in order to incorporate all of the drilling later this year.

The company said it is on track to deliver an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment based on the current resource announced today in the first quarter of 2012 and expects to provide a further update based on the current drilling results later in 2012.

Check out this recent presentation on the Wildcast Silver mine in southern Arizona.

The Chilean firm gets 12.5 million shares of Molycorp common stock, with the value based on the 20-day volume weighted average share price as of the close of trading on Jan. 30 plus a 10.0% premium.

Molymet has a market capitalization of $1.8 billionn and is the world’s leading processor of molybdenum and rhenium. Molymet has plants in Chile, Mexico, Belgium, Germany and China and commercial offices in England, China, the U.S., Brazil and Chile.

John Graell, Molymet’s executive chairman and CEO, is expected to serve on Molycorp’s board. He has more than 30 years of experience in the metals industry and is a highly respected industry leader with a long history of business success, Molycorp said.

“We are very pleased with Molymet’s decision to make this significant strategic investment in Molycorp and we look forward to having John Graell, and his wealth of experience and insight, join our board when nominated by Molymet,” said Mark A. Smith, Molycorp president and CEO. “Molymet’s investment will help us pursue the growth elements of our business strategy and positions us to capitalize on opportunities that present themselves in the future.”

“We are making this investment in Molycorp because we are very bullish on the upside potential of the company, as well as the highly synergistic technologies and market positioning of our respective companies,” said Graell. “Molycorp’s vision for growth and global supply chain integration is highly attractive to us, and I look forward to working with the Company to help it achieve its long-term goals.”

KEPCO will subscribe for 13.9% of common shares of Strathmore, or 1.46 million shares at C$0.55.  In addition to the shares, the agreement contains an off-take provision, whereby KEPCO has the right to purchase a portion of any future annual uranium production from Strathmore’s properties. Future off-take uranium purchases shall be determined by KEPCO’s equity ownership in Strathmore.

The proceeds will be used for a Phase I exploration and development program at the Gas Hills Beaver Rim area and for ongoing permitting activities on the company’s nearby lower Gas Hills properties. On completion of Phase I, KEPCO will have the right to participate in a Phase II development program, allowing KEPCO to earn up to a 40% interest in the Gas Hills properties, for an additional $32 million in expenditures, over the subsequent three years.

“Strathmore is pleased to welcome KEPCO as a new valued shareholder and partner,” said David Miller, Strathmore’s CEO.

“KEPCO is known for their leadership and foresight in providing long-term solutions for the development of safe and reliable nuclear power and investment in sustainable uranium supplies. Their participation in the development of the Gas Hills demonstrates their confidence in both the value and the potential of this project.

“The funds provided by the equity private placement will provide the immediate capital requirements necessary to advance this project through the exploration, development and permitting process,” he added.

Phase II funding and expenditures

Following completion of the first phase, KEPCO may elect to establish a limited liability company with Strathmore for the further development of the properties. The project company shall be governed by an operating agreement, the terms of which are substantially consistent with the agreement between KEPCO and the company just announced, Strathmore said.

KEPCO will be entitled to the delivery of uranium “in kind” from future production of the project company based on their proportionate interest in the firm.

In Phase II, Strathmore shall contribute all of the properties and assets of the Gas Hills project to the project company and KEPCO shall contribute, as its initial contribution, $12 million to fund the first year of Phase II program, acquiring a 15% equity interest in the project company.

In the second year of Phase II, KEPCO may acquire an additional 12.5% equity interest for a total of 27.5% by funding the second year Phase II program expenditures of an additional $10 million.

In the third year, KEPCO may acquire an additional 12.5% equity interest, bringing the total to 40%, by funding another $10 million of expenditures.

About the Gas Hills

The Gas Hills Uranium District in Wyoming was the second-largest uranium producing region in the United States, having produced 100 million pounds of uranium concentrates from 1957-1989. Strathmore controls over 34,000 acres of mineral claims in the Gas Hills, including 16,000 acres in the highly prospective, relatively unexplored portion of the Gas Hills, known as “Beaver Rim,” located to the south of the lower Gas Hills area.

The company has been actively advancing its mine permit application in the lower Gas Hills area for submittal to the State of Wyoming, in addition to a Source Materials License application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

First production from the Coeur mine is targeted for the end of this year. Capital spending associated with this program in 2012 will be about $5 million.

Total silver resources identified to date are 6 million ounces. Drilling in 2011 further defined the resource, allowing for the definition of optimal development and mine plans. It is expected that resources in the Coeur mine area will produce at the rate of up to 500,000 ounces per year once full production rates are achieved toward the end of 2013.

In addition, the company said it has planned for 100,000 feet of exploration drilling in 2012, compared to 77,000 feet in 2011 and 47,000 feet in 2010. This will be a combination of underground drilling and the continuation of U.S. Silver’s surface program that began in 2011.

U.S. Silver said it is forecasting that 2012 production will be about 2.4 million ounces of silver, with by-product production of lead to be 6.5 million pounds and copper to be 1.2 million pounds.

That would quickly open up vast resources of rare earths from what is currently waste production from the production of metals such as titanium and zirconium, bringing about a supply of non-Chinese-sourced rare earths as early as 2014.

“The SENES report provides the positive radiological safety and environmental support that we need to confidently advance our plans for a monazite-processing facility, which could achieve near-term rare-earth production,” said Bill Bird, chairman and CEO of Medallion.

“For some time, it has been our view that monazite, with a rare-earth content of approximately 60%, could again fulfill its dominant role as a source for rare-earth production outside of China.”

In an article published Tuesday, VantageWire.com editor-in-chief G. Joel Chury talked about Toyota innovating its ” way out of rare-earth handcuffs” should the price of rare earths not abate. He mentioned several rare-earth producers, present and near-future, including Medallion. “Medallion’s approach is refreshing, having opted to not go the typical exploration route, instead going for a monazite processing strategy that utilizes historically successful metallurgy to retain rare earth elements from the tailings and discard piles of other miners.

“By sourcing monazite supplies, which contain 60% REEs, from these same producers, Medallion seeks to offer a cost-effective waste disposal alternative for mining operations and to obtain REEs at pennies on the dollar,” Chury wrote.

Medallion said today that “a concern with all rare-earth processing is the safe handling and disposal of the various wastes, including the radioactive elements that are naturally present in all rare-earth mineral occurrences.

“The SENES report supports the company’s objective that, with the proper operational controls and the use of modern handling and waste disposal systems, the company can proceed with its strategy to source and procure the substantial amount of available monazite for a near-term large-scale planned production facility designed to extract rare earths.”

The report was not designed to examine the capital and operating costs or other economic variables that would form the basis of a feasibility study, Medallion said.

In order to provide feed material for the proposed facility, the company said it is actively sourcing rare-earth-bearing monazite from present producers of heavy-mineral sands, both through purchase agreements and monazite-processing joint ventures. Final plant size will depend on the committed amount of feed monazite, rare-earth concentrate demand, market pricing and other variables.

Monazite, the original commercial rare-earth source, is a rare-earth phosphate mineral that historically has been mined from beach-sand deposits.  It has been processed for its rare-earth content for over 100 years and smaller-scale monazite rare-earth-extraction plants are in operation today in China, India and Brazil.

In addition to being a readily available rare-earth resource and having a well-understood and commercially proven metallurgical process, monazite is valued for containing more of the lucrative heavy rare-earths than does bastnaesite, which has been the other industry-standard rare-earth ore mineral for the last 50 years.

Heavy-mineral sands are beach placer deposits formed by wave-action gravity concentration of the heavy-mineral grains.  There are significant heavy-mineral-sands mining operations in Australia, South Asia, Africa and the Americas, where these beach deposits are mined principally for the titanium and zirconium.

Medallion says that its strategy for using supplies of rare-earth feedstock that currently exist in waste stockpiles will allow it to leapfrog much of the timetable for putting a mine and plant on line and thus be producing needed material before 2014.  (See chart below.)

Medallion said there are several ways to structure its planned business. If it acquires monazite from any of the several heavy-mineral-sands operators and builds a processing plant, the capital cost for a 10,000-tpy facility would be about $50 million, the operating cost between $5,000 and $10,000 per tonne and the cost of the rare-earth carbonate produced about $30,000 per tonne.

Back in November, when The New York Times reported that the prices of rare earths were falling rapidly, cerium, for example, was still selling for $45 to $60 a kilogram, after peaking at $170 a kilogram.

Medallion stock on the TSX Venture Exchange was up about C$0.020 to C$0.175, or 19.9%, by early afternoon trading after the announcement.

“Rio Tinto’s move to a majority stake in Ivanhoe further demonstrates our commitment to the safe and successful development of the Oyu Tolgoi mine for the benefit of all stakeholders,” said Andrew Harding, chief executive of Rio Tinto’s Copper segment.

Mongolian President Ts. Elbegdorj, center, on his first official visit to the Oyu Tolgoi site, accompanied by OT LLC Chairman G. Batsukh, right, on Jan. 20.

“We are approaching a very important phase in the development of the Oyu Tolgoi mine, with 70% of the construction now complete. The lead-up to first ore in the second half of 2012 will mark an important milestone in the path towards commercial production of copper concentrate, slated for the first half of 2013,” he said.

Rio Tinto purchased an additional 15.1 million common shares of Ivanhoe, representing 2% of Ivanhoe’s outstanding common shares, from two sellers in a privately negotiated share purchase transaction. The shares were purchased for an aggregate of C$302 million at a price per share of C$20.00. After the completion of the share purchase, Rio Tinto will own 377,397,658 common shares of Ivanhoe, representing 51% of Ivanhoe’s outstanding common shares.

Rio Tinto has anti-dilution rights that permit it to acquire additional Ivanhoe securities so as to maintain its proportional equity interest in Ivanhoe. Rio Tinto also has the right to acquire additional Ivanhoe securities under its equity financing right of first offer.

Rio Tinto said it has no current intention to purchase additional securities of Ivanhoe, adding, however, that it reserves its right to seek opportunities to purchase additional securities of Ivanhoe depending upon its assessment of Ivanhoe’s business, prospects and financial condition, the market for Ivanhoe’s securities, general economic and tax conditions and other factors.

Rio Tinto also said it reserves its right to take any permitted action as the majority shareholder of Ivanhoe.

Arbitration of Shareholder Rights Plan

Rio Tinto had reported Dec. 13 that an independent arbitrator had upheld its claim in respect of Ivanhoe Mines’ Shareholder Rights Plan (the SRP). This means that after a standstill agreement expires on Jan. 18, 2012, Rio Tinto has the ability to purchase additional shares in Ivanhoe beyond its current holding of 49% without being diluted by the SRP.

As part of the decision, the arbitrator dismissed Ivanhoe’s counterclaim and ruled that Rio Tinto did not breach the Private Placement Agreement with Ivanhoe.

From Jan. 19, the ruling stated, Rio Tinto would no longer be subject to a standstill agreement with Ivanhoe. Thereafter, Rio Tinto was able to seek opportunities to increase its shareholding in Ivanhoe to a majority position. At that time, it said it had no intention of making a full takeover bid for Ivanhoe’s shares. “Rio Tinto reserves the right to change its intention in the future,” the company added.

The first exploration of its kind targeting mining enterprises, the KIN Expedition will take place in Belo Horizonte, Brazil , from April 17-19, with an optional half-day tour of Samarco’s iron ore mine on April 20.

“The case for innovation in the mining industry has never been more compelling,” said Peter Bryant , KIN Expedition co-chair. “We are in the midst of the only mining super cycle since World War II. While the mining industry currently produces record profits, leading players must discover how to create sustainable value,” he added.

Appropriately, the school said, “The Mining Company of the Future” became the overarching theme of the KIN Expedition. During the expedition, leading executives from mining companies, solution providers and researchers from around the globe will participate in providing insights and best practices for addressing issues of the resources industry and together serve as a catalyst for change.

“In recent years, mining companies have struggled to expand production and meet the surging demand caused by China , India and other emerging markets,” Bryant said.

“Sustainable success will require important transformations in mining companies’ operating systems, such as rapid and accurate characterization of ore bodies, faster development of mines and speed of extraction, improved recovery rates and mine planning as well as increased use of automation and remote operations.”

What KIN has done

Since its inception in 2003, KIN has focused on issues that have a significant impact on global prosperity and industries where they see a need for a step up in innovation. At an annual KIN Global Summit, while sharing ideas during the resources panel, the idea of the mining expedition came about.

The KIN chose to examine the resource industry because of its vital contribution to development throughout the world. In each of many developing countries, a single mining project is a major component of the GDP. In addition, when compared to the pace of innovation at other industries such as the automotive or mobile phone technology, innovation in the mining industry has been historically slow.

“Our goal is to act as a catalyst for the creation of a new level of collaboration around some big issues that if addressed will unlock enormous value for this industry,” said Robert C. Wolcott, founder and executive director of the Kellogg Innovation Network.

KIN said it anticipates that the expedition will result in a collective communiqué for public release by the Expedition members summarizing key insights and action plans. This expedition builds on KIN’s mission to build ongoing special interest groups, in this case for leading members of the mining industry, to champion innovation agendas.

Expedition attendance is limited to senior innovation leaders and/or C-level executives of global and emerging corporations in the resource sector. Sponsorships for the KIN Expedition have been secured from the CEOs of Anglo Gold Ashanti , BP Castrol and the President of Caterpillar Global Mining, each of whom will be attending. The meeting is limited to two executives per company. Registration

Deliverables and topics

The KIN Expedition-Brazil says it will deliver:

• A priority list of challenges and opportunities for industry collaboration;
• New partnerships formed to champion innovations;
• A detailed, confidential program synopsis published exclusively for attendees; and
• A collective communiqué for public release approved by the Expedition members.

Session and panel topics include:

The priority challenges facing the mining industry and opportunities for innovation;

• How open innovation and collaboration has delivered significant innovations in the oil and gas and aerospace industries;
• Operating platforms of the future;
• Business models of the future; and
• A visit to Anglo Gold Ashanti’s (AGA) mine. AGA Brazil’s CEO, Helcio Guerra will host the visit.
• *An optional tour on April 20 of Samarco. Samarco was voted the best mining company in Brazil in 2010 by Exame business magazine. Samarco’s CEO will host the visit.