Eurasia Mining has announced that considerable progress was made last year at a number of its exploration projects in central and north-west Russia.

The company drilled two sub-areas at Mochetundra where a preliminary resource was pinpointed in 2007 and found that of 23 holes (totalling 5,706m), ten intersected mineralisation.

As a result, two mineralised zones which could develop into an open pittable resource have been defined and Eurasia will focus on producing resource estimates for them in 2009.

Meanwhile, the British miner identified new low-grade pgms at its Volchetundra site - the only successful hole of the 28 it dug - which suggests the existence of a new zone.

Thirdly, the company announced that drilling in the Urals at West Kytlim, a joint venture with Anglo Platinum, is continuing on several new areas which could house alluvial platinum.

However, it will not be able to announce its desired fast-track production plans until recent changes in mining laws are incorporated and clarified.

Finally, Eurasia revealed that only two of its three exploration projects in the Kola Peninsula were continued in 2008 after only low-grade pgms were found at West Imandra.

http://www.ukdistribute.com/links/1238511213984-EUA%202009%2003Exploration%20Update.pdf

Planned changes to laws in South Africa could create further delays for companies already struggling to secure mining and exploration rights, it has been claimed.

Manus Booysen, a partner at law firm Webber Wentzel, believes the amendment bill could see the government given power to impose tough community-related conditions for applications, Mining Weekly reports.

Furthermore, he explained that if these conditions are not met by mining companies, the Minerals and Energy Minister could potentially suspend their rights.

The bill would see the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism made responsible for environmental regulation and this could also cause delays, Mr Booysen added.

Only one out of 1,163 prospecting rights and five out of 453 mining licences were granted between June and November 2007 in South Africa.

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/sa-mining-law-amendments-may-result-in-further-mining-right-application-delays-lawyer-2009-04-06

South African miner TWP Projects has revealed that its No.17 vertical shaft project with Impala Platinum could produce 225,000 tonnes per month of platinum metal ore from the Merensky and upper group two reefs.

The company also confirmed that it is set for the five-year execution of junior platinum miner Wesizwe Platinum's Frischgewaadg-Ledig project in the North West province.

Involving the sinking of two vertical shafts, the project has an estimated lifespan of 35 years and could produce 230,000 tonnes per month and an average of 350,000 oz pgm per year when it reaches steady-state production in 2016.

TWP also noted its role in upgrading the furnace at Braemore Resources' Mintek facility from 1.5MW to 3.2MW, which forms part of the larger ConRoast technology project.

http://www.twpweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=27

Local Australian miner Magma Metals has revealed some impressive drilling results from its 3km stretch at the Current Lake-Beaver Lake area in Thunder Bay North, Canada.

The company confirmed that hole TBND134 contained 37m grading 4.55 g/t combined platinum-palladium (Pt-Pd), 0.49 per cent copper (Cu) and 0.26 per cent nickel (Ni), including 22m at 6.52 g/t Pt-Pd, 0.69 per cent Cu and 0.33 per cent Ni.

In addition, hole TBND171 had 40.45m at 7.12 g/t Pt-Pd, 0.84 per cent Cu and 0.41 per cent Ni, including 9m at 10.68 g/t Pt-Pd, 1.21 per cent Cu and 0.5 per cent Ni.

Magma will now be oversubscribed as it looks to raise $A16 million (£7.85 million) through the issue of 50 million new shares.

It intends to use the additional capital to complete definition drilling and resource estimates, plus extending the Thunder Bay resource to the south-east.

The company, which has now drilled 26,500m at the site, expects to complete the initial resource in the September quarter.

http://www.mineweb.net/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page35?oid=82465&sn=Detail

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