Vatukoula Gold Mines VGM.LN Underground Development Strategy Set to Pay Dividends in the Long Run

Vatukoula Gold Mines VGM.LN the London listed gold mining company report that their current development strategy underway at their 100% owned Fiji mine is set to pay long term dividends.

CEO Dave Paxton, recently turned in a great performance on the Proactive Investors one to one interview, live broadcast programme.

Considered one of London's leading experts on the gold sector, the former city analyst described in detail how the current underground programme underway at Vatukoula is working to strike the right balance between development (opening up new gold faces) and stoping (mining the wanted gold bearing faces)

Vatukoula has considerable underground reserves. The mine sits at the centre of a huge caldera gold bearing land package , where VGM has huge long life mining and prospecting potential. Vatukoula rates as one of the worlds best positioned underground gold mines in terms of jurisdiction profile, (low geopolitical risk) cash cost of production profile and where the human capital of experienced hard working Fiji miners ranks amongst the best in the world.

 With strong stakeholder support from the Fiji Government in a jurisdiction that is pro mining, VGM has recently seen its stock oversold, where the market has possibly not considered the upside of Vatukoula.

The development programme underway is designed to ensure that the mining operation recovers a greater percentage of the higher grade gold bearing ore body, whilst at the same time ensuring development faces are spread at multiple points within the underground structure, providing a safety mechanism so the underground operation can continue at least in some areas of the mine, should a problem occur in another area.

Subject to no further exogenous shocks, VGM is likely to produce over 60,000 ounces of gold this year. With declining gold production from previously strong producers such as South Africa, the price of gold looks to be holding steady at above 1,600 ounces, based on raw supply and demand fundamentals, given the VIX index "worry factor" now appears to be less reflected in the gold price.

VGM has plenty of capacity available between its cash cost of production which unlike other gold miners includes development as expensed and not capitalised, to remain profitable today but also to be well positioned to turn in improved profits as the impact of the new development strategy starts to kick in.

The Proactive Investors interview with Dave Paxton can be seen at

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/stocktube/1114/vatukoula-gold-mines-ceo-says-production-targets-remain-on-track-1114.html

Atlantic Coal ATC.LN Production Soars from Huge Demand Increase for Clean Anthracite

Atlantic Coal plc, London's leading listed coal producer, released last week a fantastic production update that got the market very excited about ATC'S Stockton Colliery Anthracite operation, located in Pennsylvania's massive anthracite coal district.

For the three months ended 31 March 2011 Stockton increased production by 12% to 31,729 tons of clean coal during Q1 2012 compared to the equivalent period in 2011 (Q1 2011: 28,376).

During the period Atlantic removed 715,691 bank cubic yards (“BCY”) of overburden (Q1 2011: 658,785). 85,911 tons of run of mine coal was washed (Q1 2011: 62,000).


Demand for Stockton’s high quality anthracite remains strong with production from Pennsylvanian anthracite mines struggling to meet demand.


As a result there has been a substantial increase in the average sale price of Pennsylvanian anthracite with a Q1 2012 average price of $166.30 per ton compared with a

Q1 2011 price of $134.25,

an increase of approximately 24%.


Atlantic Managing Director, Steve Best, said, “I am pleased to report that production at Stockton during the first quarter of 2012 has been steady and that we have experienced an increase in comparison to Q1 2011. As announced earlier today, the railroad diversion is now complete allowing the working of over approximately 1.0 million tons of coal of previously unworkable reserves, which will enable us to increase production at the mine over the coming months.”

TAIA Lion Resources, Boosted by a Raft of Good News about Sierra Leone

TAIA Lion Resources, one of Sierra Leone's leading gold exploration companies and committed corporate citizen to the country, is pleased by the increasing positive market sentiment about SL. With the recent news that  a $30.6 million grant from the International Development Association, a World Bank unit, has been allocated to support Sierra Leone, International support for the country is growing apace. The Finance Ministry reports that Sierra Leone's GDP will likely rise by 45% in 2012, as the effect of iron ore exports and other positive economic developments begin to impact on SL's economy.


Commenting on Sierra Leone's feel good factor TAIA Lion Resources CEO Ari Untracht said, "All the team at TAIA Lion Resources are working very hard to bring our projects into life, so we can generate employment, contribute to social welfare and play our role in supporting what is a great and exciting renaissance period currently unfolding in Sierra Leone"

Brazilian Gold Corp BGC.TSX.V Bullish on the Boa Vista Gold Project, Northern Brazil

Brazilian Gold Corp BGC.TSX.V

Bullish on Boa Vista as the Company Completes the Phase Two Exploration Program 

Brazilian Gold Completes Phase Two Exploration Program on the Boa Vista Project of Northern Brazil

Brazilian Gold Corporation (TSXV: BGC) and its joint venture partners, Octa Mineração Ltda. and D’Gold Mineral Ltda., are pleased to announce the completion of the Phase Two drill program (2,745 m in 12 holes) on the Boa Vista project in the Tapajós region of northern Brazil. The Boa Vista project is located approximately 170 km southwest of the town of Novo Progresso and benefits from road access that connects directly to the recently paved BR163 highway.

The final three holes reported in this News Release were collared on the Planalto target and intersected wide intervals of silica altered and veined granite that were geochemically anomalous in gold. The first nine holes were collared on the VG1 target and were announced on February 22^nd and March 26^th, 2012; the VG1 target is located 2.5 km northwest of Planalto.

The Planalto target comprises silica altered, veined and brecciated granitic rocks that forms a northeast trending ridge that is over 2 km long. Three drill holes were completed on two fences spaced 850 m apart; the holes were collared on the eastern side of the ridge and drilled to the northwest (AZ280°) at -55°. All three holes intersected a wide interval (approx. 20 m true thickness) of multi-episodic veining, brecciation and silicification up to 150 m down dip of similar sub-outcrop material mapped on surface. The altered and mineralized zone dips approximately 75° to the east and exhibits open space vein textures suggestive of epithermal style gold mineralization. Gold was anomalous in several samples from the altered interval with values up to 0.42 g/t gold.

Ian Stalker, CEO of Brazilian Gold, commented, “We are encouraged by the potential size and style of mineralization intersected at the Planalto target and plan to complete additional work along this 2 km structure, enabling us to focus and define future drill programs. In addition to Planalto, recent drill results on the VG1 gold-in-soil anomaly (2,000 m) show wide intervals of near surface gold mineralization over the 600 m strike length tested to date and are open in all directions. These two targets, as well as four other high priority targets, indicate the significant potential of our Boa Vista project, an asset that in our view is still underexplored.”

An IP survey (56 km) covering a number of targets was recently completed and is currently being processed and interpreted.

BGC has effectively earned a 61% interest in the Boa Vista project following expenditures of an additional US$2 million. The Company’s expenditure remains on track to ensure that 71% ownership of Boa Vista is secured in accordance with the terms of the Joint Venture agreement.

Laboratory Procedures

Drill core in this program is sampled at 3 m or smaller intervals using a diamond saw. One half of the sample is archived and the other half is dispatched to Acme Analytical Laboratories Ltd.’s sample preparation facility in Itaituba, Brazil, where the sample is crushed, split and pulverized to 200 mesh. The pulp is shipped to Santiago, Chile or Vancouver, Canada for gold fire assay. Acme Analytical Laboratories Ltd. is an internationally certified ISO 9001 laboratory.

Garnet Dawson, M.Sc., P.Geo. (British Columbia), Vice President, Exploration for the Company and a Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this News Release.

About Brazilian Gold Corporation

Brazilian Gold is a Canadian-based public company with a focus on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in northern Brazil. The Company has title to one of the largest land packages (3,750 km²) in the Tapajós and adjacent Alta Floresta gold provinces. The land package contains green fields to more advance stage projects including the Company’s flagship São Jorge project. Rapid improvements to regional infrastructure continue to provide underlying support to Brazilian Gold’s activities in northern Brazil.

The São Jorge project contains an indicated mineral resource of 11.365 Mt grading 1.0 g/t gold (379,000 ounces of gold) and an inferred mineral resource of 20.673 Mt grading 0.8 g/t gold (558,000 ounces of gold) at a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off (Coffey Mining, June 21, 2011).

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information, including without limitation statements as to planned expenditures and exploration programs. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include without limitation the completion of planned expenditures, the ability to complete exploration programs on schedule and the success of exploration programs.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of this news release.

URU Metals URU.LN, Fairfax issue new research note

Fairfax release research note on URU Metals, URU.LN the developer of highly prospective nickel and uranium assets.
http://www.urumetals.com/upload/documents/Market-News-Fairfax-URU-Metals-3-Apr-2012.pdf

Atlantic Coal ATC.LN Shares Advance 6% on Raft of Good News

Atlantic Coal ATC.LN the producer of high quality in-demand anthracite from their Stockton Colliery Pennsylvania USA, see their Shares Advance 6% on raft of good news released today.
With production up by 12% the last quarter, the railroad by-pass now unlocking new reserves and a major acquisition strategy involving debt finance, not dilution, ATC is the place to be.

The market wants producers.........and ATC are producing

Production Production at Stockton increased 12% to 31,729 tons of clean coal during Q1 2012 compared to the equivalent period in 2011 (Q1 2011: 28,376).  During the period Atlantic removed 715,691 bank cubic yards ("BCY") of overburden (Q1 2011:658,785).  85,911 tons of run of mine coal was washed (Q1 2011: 62,000).  Demand for Stockton's high quality anthracite remains strong with production from Pennsylvanian anthracite mines struggling to meet demand.  As a result there has been a substantial increase in the average sale price of Pennsylvanian anthracite with a Q1 2012 average price of $166.30 per ton compared with a Q1 2011 price of $134.25, an increase of approximately 24%. Acquisitions Will be funded via adept finance Improvements / Infrastructure / Operations Completion of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Diversion allowing the working of over approximately 1.0 million tons ("Mt") of coal of previously unworkable reserves ·    An independent mining report highlights that, with the diversion complete,  production  of 160,000 tons of clean coal per annum is achievable in 2012 ·    Existing equipment provides sufficient capacity to achieve production targets at Stockton - delivery of the second Liebherr excavator now expected in H2 2012

Bateman Engineering engaged by SAN Nickel South Africa

Bateman Engineering engaged by URU Metals URU.LN Southern Africa Nickel JV to start work on concentrator design