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Mining news summary: Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Anglo American, Sunrise Resources, Central Rand Gold

Last updated: 20:23 12 Feb 2011 AEDT, First published: 21:23 12 Feb 2011 AEDT

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Mining major Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) reported that its H2 and full year underlying profits more than doubled to US$8.2 billion and US$14 billion respectively. The business benefited from an increase in copper and iron ore prices, which were driven by a strong demand from China in 2010.

Rio Tinto
has also approved a US$933 million investment to extend the life of the Marandoo iron ore mine by 16 years to 2030 and gave the go-ahead to a further US$277 million investment (Rio Tinto share US$163 million) in the next phase of a project that will ultimately raise the Iron Ore Company of Canada's concentrate production capacity by 40 percent to 26 million tonnes per year.

Xstrata (LON:XTA)
said this week that profits soared 86 percent in 2010 and reported that resource estimates for the Horse-Ivaal-Trukai (HIT) deposit have increased significantly.

Anglo American (LON:AAL)
will report underlying earnings in respect of Anglo Platinum Limited of US$425 million for the year ended 31 December 2010.

Randgold Resources (LON:RRS)
said that despite “operational and political setbacks in a generally challenging year”, its profit for 2010 rose 43% to US$120.6 million.

Lifted by a rise in the gold price, Q4 gold sales were up 25% at US$145 million.

South African miner Strategic Natural Resources (AIM:SNRP) said that Rapitrade, the company’s black empowerment partner, is taking a bigger stake in the company by acquiring  five million new shares at a price of 21.6 pence each, or around £1.1 million in total. In the same announcement SNR also revealed it was in advanced discussions with several parties interested in signing off-take agreements to buy coal from SNR’s Elitheni Mine.

Nyota Minerals Ltd  (LON:NYO, ASX:NYO)
said World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has exercised the 22,311,995 options that were granted as part of the original subscription deal announced in April 2010. Nyota has also reported that it has identified new gold trends  around the Tulu Kapi project in Ethiopia and multiple new high priority exploration targets across the company's "Southern Blocks" within the newly defined Western Ethiopian Gold District.

Mariana Resources Ltd (LON:MARL)
said two diamond drilling rigs started work in the El Nido area of its Las Calandrias project at the beginning of 2011 and the first assay results are expected in the next few weeks.

Griffin Mining (LON:GFM)
increased year-on-year production at the Caijiaying zinc-gold mine, even though it was only operational for three quarters of 2010. The Chinese mine was closed for nearly 4 months, from September to December, amid safety concerns due to a number of fatalities in August.

Sunrise Resources (LON:SRES)
chairman Patrick Cheetham told investors that the initial exploration at the Long Lake gold project

in Sudbury, Canada, has exceeded his expectations. This week the company revealed more good news from the initial exploration programme on the Long Lake gold project. It has now completed the geophysical exploration work and the results show several anomalies that warrant further exploration.

Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD)
has commissioned an 11,000 tonne bulk sampling programme in the diamond-rich Orapa region of Botswana.

Stratex International (LON:STI)
said this week that it has discovered epithermal gold in the Asal exploration licence area, effectively proving the Afar gold district extends into the Republic of Djibouti. The company has already found epithermal gold across the border in Ethiopia at its Megenta and Mille projects.

GGG Resources (LON:GGG)
gave investors the results from the next 29 drill holes from the on-going resource drilling at the Bullabulling project in Western Australia. The company is working alongside its joint venture partner Auzex Resources (ASX:AZX) to develop the 2 million ounce gold project, which is found on the site of a historic gold mine in the Coolgardie Goldfields.

Weatherly International PLC (LON:WTI)
said commissioning of the concentrator for the Otjihase and Matchless copper mines in Namibia is progressing well and the plant will resume normal operation in accordance with the programme.

International uranium company Forte Energy NL (ASX:FTE, LON:FTE) said it has started re-assaying its Firawa prospect in Guinea for Rare Earth Elements (REE), with receipt of initial results expected towards the end of Q1 2011.

The newsflow is coming thick and fast from African Aura Mining (LON:AAAM, CVE:AUR), which this week revealed the resource estimate for the Putu iron ore project in Liberia has more than doubled.

Chaarat Gold (LON:CGH)
unveiled plans for a £51 million placing this week, alongside a new resource upgrade for the Chaarat gold project in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Firestone Diamonds (LON:FDI)
has made what it called “good progress” at its Liqhobong mine in Lesotho, expecting production to recommence ahead of schedule in February 2011. Investors welcomed the update, driving shares in the company up 4.5%.

Central Rand Gold (LON:CRND)
told investors that it has arranged a commercially beneficial deal to process excess production with a neighbouring gold miner.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

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