Part of the new funds raised will be apportioned to the final instalment of the hydraulic excavator at Stockton, scheduled to arrive in March 2010, which should immediately impact production levels, through raised input into the on-site washery.

Managing Director Steve Best said commented: “We are nearing the final phases of redeveloping the Stockton Colliery, which we believe will significantly improve the economics of the operation, already enhanced by the settlement of the Pagnotti supply agreement, and lead to a deserved re-rating of our stock.  Our aim is to produce up to 400,000 tons of run of mine coal at Stockton over an initial 10 year mine life, which should generate significant cashflow for the Company, something we can utilise to implement our regional Pennsylvanian consolidation strategy as well as identify other synergistic high quality coal projects.”

The whole Carpenter Creek coal area covers approximately 70,000 acres and contains an estimated 1.2 billion tons of high quality thermal coal. Previous business models developed by MCC targeted production for 2012. Providing modelling with a potential mine life of over 30 years, with production at 6 million tons per annum of washed coal. MCC has access to existing transportation infrastructure including a direct line to key coal markets in the US and Asia.

The placing was arranged by Allenby Capital and it is expected to be effective on London’s AIM market on or around 15 February 2010.

On completion, APCL will have the rights to two highly prospective oil and gas exploration blocks off the coast of Liberia, West Africa, covering a total licence area of approximately 7,200km2.

Independent oil and gas specialist consultant, IHS Global, has determined that the Liberian blocks have potential for combined un-risked total P50 recoverable prospective resources 1875 million barrels with a range of 945 to 3043 million barrels.

The Agreement is conditional on Global completing a placement of shares to raise not less than A$130 million and up to A$230 million.

Global will change its name to African Petroleum Corporation Limited on obtaining the necessary shareholder approvals.

China Steel produces both nickel pig iron and merchant pig iron at its plant near the city of Linyi in China’s Shandong Province.

Chief Executive Chen Lidong said the company had successfully incorporated the use of Anthracite coal in its production process. Anthracite coal or black coal was a harder compact variety of coal with a high carbon content.

“This supplements our use of coke as an energy source and it will improve our production efficiency and enable us to improve our product quality,” he said.

“We are implementing these changes to ensure China Steel remains highly competitive in these uncertain times.

“It’s a move that will help solidify our position as the market leader in nickel pig iron in China.”

China Steel last month announced it had signed a one year letter of intent with Heng Feng Zheng Dao Trading Co. Ltd to supply 45,000 tonnes of nickel pig iron or 90 per cent of current production capacity.

China Steel Australia, which listed on the ASX in February, 2008, is an enterprise with a licence to manufacture steel and iron in China.

Following the announcement, shares in the company were trading 5.5c higher at $1.45.

In October 2009, Linc Energy mobilised ‘Boart Longyear Rig 9’ to the Arckaringa Basin, South Australia where it currently holds seven Petroleum Exploration Licenses prospective for UCG, CSG and conventional petroleum.

 Six wells were drilled, of which four cut large diameter core over the Upper Mount Toondina sequence for geotechnical analysis, specialised coal gasification testing and coal seam gas analysis.

Two of the wells have been completed as piezometers to provide a baseline for ground water behaviour in the area.

The company says the oil shows at Maglia-1 in the Arckaringa Basin are the most significant find in the history of the basin.

Heavy flooding postponed the final two wells in the ‘PEL’ program along with drilling aimed at appraising conventional coal mining in selected areas held under mineral Exploration Licenses.

Subject to weather conditions, it is anticipated that finalisation of the program will occur early in the second quarter of 2010.

Multiple coal seams were intersected in every well with the exception of Nuba-1 that intersected basement without penetrating the Mount Toondina formation. Individual seams of up to 6 metres thickness were identified by geophysical logging. Detailed analysis is ongoing.

During drilling of Maglia-1, oil shows and a strong petroliferous odour were observed within cored sandstones at 366.4 to 369.4 and 393.4 to 396.4 metres coring depth.

Good reservoir attributes have also been encountered in historical drilling of the overlying Permian Boorthana and Mount Toondina Formations, the latter of which is where the Maglia-1 oil show was encountered although this well, targeting UCG appraisal, was not drilled on any structural trap.

All of the potential reservoir units that occur in this area are considered to have adequate and extensive regional seals.

Linc Energy Chief Executive Peter Bond said the news in the Arckaringa PELs was a significant milestone.

"The results have confirmed my belief in the energy bearing potential of this vast acreage and reinforces the reasoning why we purchased SAPEX in the first place.

"It takes the prospectivity of this basin for petroleum to the next level; one where the existence of an active petroleum system is now proven.

"We will progress our plans with increased confidence and vigour as a result of this important discovery, which I believe is just the first of many exciting announcements concerning Linc Energy’s traditional oil and gas assets."

This program, which will comprise approximately 2,000 metres of diamond drilling, has been designed primarily to evaluate extensions to mineralisation at the high priority McKellar Prospect, where only four holes were completed during the Company’s inaugural drilling program because of restricted access.

Mineralisation at the McKellar Prospect extends over more than 3,200 metres of strike, with results from previous drilling programs including 3.7 metres at 41.7 g/t gold from 13.4 metres, 4.3 metres at 37.3 g/t gold from 11.9 metres, 3.4 metres at 14.4 g/t gold from 28.2 metres and 1.2 metres at 12.9 g/t gold from 3.6 metres.

High-grade results returned from the Company’s recently completed drilling programme will also be followed up during the current program.

The Company has the right to acquire up to a 100% interest in the high-grade Ardeen Gold Project, where approximately 30,000 ounces of gold were recovered during mining in the 1930s.

Considerable shallow highgrade gold mineralisation has been intersected in the almost 20,000 metres of diamond drilling now completed at the project. Mineralisation at most prospects remains open in all directions.

As part of its aggressive growth strategy, the Company recently announced the acquisition of a 100% interest in the advanced high-grade Cameron Lake Gold Project, also located in Ontario, Canada, only several hundred kilometres from the Ardeen Gold Project.

The resource base at the Cameron Lake Gold Project currently comprises 2,567,000 tonnes at 5.42 g/t gold for 447,421 oz gold (3.0 g/t cut-off). Recalculation of this resource, in light of high prevailing gold prices and the opportunity to develop an open pit mining operation, is progressing well.

Perhaps not lost on all investors to date, Western Uranium owns a large tenement portfolio prospective for manganese adjacent to the world's third largest managanese producer and one of the world's largest high grade manganese deposits. 

Western Uranium has six tenement applications including 1,722km², 57km² onshore including Winchelsea Island and 1,665km² offshore.  The tenements are directly adjacent to BHP Billiton and Anglo American Corp's, Groote Eylandt Mining Company (known as GEMCO) world class manganese mine.

What sets GEMCO apart? It is the 9th richest mine in Australia, mining 1/5 to 1/10 the tonnage of its peers.  2009 profit was ~$1.1bil (for only 2.3mt mined).  In short, and in perspective GEMCO is 7x more profitable than BHP’s iron ore mines for tons mined. Groote Eylandt remains one of the most profitable manganese mines in the world.

Hence, Western Uranium's tenements start to take on real interest, directly adjacent as they are to GEMCO's operations. The J-Deposit is 200m from Western Uranium's tenement boundary.

GEMCO immediately pegged surrounding Western Uranium's tenements.

Western Uranium's target geology is based on GEMCO.  The tenements are Cretaceous sedimentary (stratiform) deposit, and a continuation of GEMCO’s orebody. Strike length exceeds 20km N-S and the ore bed ranges up to 11.5m thick.  It averages 3m, with little to no overburden.

A$38 million market-capped (pro-forma) Western Uranium's prospective areas of offshore tenements are typically in less than 5m water depth. Over 300km² of highly prospective ground are directly down dip of GEMCO's orebody. 

The company has lofty ambitions looking to rapidly grow to a world class explorer/miner, with an exploration target of 50Mt+ grading 35-50% Mn with low impurities.  And, a mining target of 2-3mtpa DSO aiming high to become one of the world’s largest manganese miners.

At this level it would be equivalent to $1-1.5B pa in revenue for the company. There is still much exploration to be done by Western Uranium/Groote Resources to get anywhere near that.  The company has cash of $3.4 million (post placement) for an exploration program.

Market capitalisation has jumped considerably since the sale and purchase agreement in November 2009 to acquire Reflective Minerals Pty Ltd's five mineral exploration licenses and an Authorisation under section 178 (“ELA’s”) covering approximately 1723 km² of shallow marine terrain immediately surrounding Groote Eylandt, plus Winchelsea and Connexion Islands in the Northern Territory

With 94% of manganese used as a ferroalloy in steel making, with no known substitute, manganese is a fair barometer of the health of global and in particular Asian economic growth. 75% of Manganese metal is produced from just four countries; South Africa, Gabon, Australia and China.

Australian has four operating manganese mines: BHP Billiton's (ASX: BHP) Groote Eylandt mine, Consolidated Minerals' (private company), Woodie Woodie mine, Om Holdings' (ASX: OMH) Bootu Creek mine and Mesa Minerals' (ASX: MAS) Ant Hill mine. 

Other Australian manganese companies include: Shaw River Resources (ASX: SRR) with the Baramine manganese deposit in WA and Aurora Minerals' (ASX: ARM) Capricorn South deposit in WA.

Western Uranium has appointed Barrie Bolton as its principal geological advisor to their manganese project near Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory. Mr. Bolton’s experience with manganese extends over 30 years and includes 18 years either advising on, or managing BHP’s exploration program for manganese, worldwide.

In summing up his appointment he said, "the adjacent land and shallow marine areas adjoining this remarkable deposit (at Groote Eylandt) must represent one of the best areas in the world for the discovery of high grade manganese in a location ideally suited to meeting the rapidly growing demand from China and the other nations of Asia."

This latter group will manage the project until further notice by the participants and has compiled the report given below for release to TSX and also for the Jervois release to its shareholders via ASX.

“EMC’s mandate for growth is to aggressively pursue opportunities in specialty and unusual metals," EMC President Peter Bosse said.

In December 2009 we acquired TTS Inc. and the services of its founder Willem Duyvesteyn, a leading expert in the development of technologies for the recovery of these metals.”

“Signing an agreement only two months later to develop the world’s only primary Scandium property proves EMC’s total commitment to the rapid execution of its mandate and bodes well for future developments."

The Nyngan Deposit is located approximately 500 km northwest of Sydney, Australia and is accessible via a 25km sealed road from the town of Nyngan. The property consists of part of exploration license EL 6009 and all of EL 6096 and covers over 9,000ha.

Scandium and its alloys, are presently used in the aerospace industry, sports equipment, laser research, specialty welding wire, electronics and high intensity halide lamps. The current use of scandium is severely restricted by its scarcity of reliable supply as there are no primary Scandium mines in production in the world.

It is anticipated that a significant demand for Scandium will be realized within the aluminum and fuel cell industries once a reliable supply of Scandium has been established.

Very little information is available in the public domain for Scandium prices. The most reliable data are available from the USGS, which has quoted a price of $1,400/kg for the last four years for a Sc2O3 product of 99.9% purity.

In the 1980s, 134 rotary air blast holes and two diamond drill holes were drilled in the area exploring several of these Alaskan-type pyroxenite bodies for platinum group.

Between 1999 and 2001, two traverses of reverse circulation drill holes exploring for nickel were drilled across the Gilgai Intrusion. Jervois obtained the sample pulps from these RC holes and analyzed them for scandium; the results indicated there was a significant enrichment of Scandium in the Gilgai laterite.

In 2006, Jervois completed a 2,638 meter drill program consisting of 64 reverse circulation holes and 5 air core holes at the Gilgai Project.

EMC Metals is currently carrying out the work required to reconcile the existing JORC resource with NI 43-101 standards.

EMC has signed an Exploration Joint Venture Agreement with Jervois pursuant to which EMC will enter into a joint venture on the Nyngan property. EMC will be the manager of the joint venture.

Under the Agreement, EMC is required to pay the sum of CAD $300,000 into escrow to be released to Jervois upon satisfaction of certain conditions precedent, including verification of title to the Nyngan property and approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Shares in the company last traded for $1.49 on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The Company's tenements at Yerecoin host more than 30 kilometres of strike of magnetite rich banded iron formation, with positive results returned from initial RC and diamond drilling in March 2009, including intersections of 72 metres @ 32.4% Fe including 56 metres @ 35.7% Fe, and 50 metres @ 30.3% Fe.

Based on dips and thicknesses of mineralisation from drilling data, integration of surface mapping, rock sampling and aeromagnetic data, the Company has defined an initial Exploration Target at Yerecoin of 200 to 250 million tonnes of magnetite mineralisation grading 30% to 35% Fe.

The Company elected to initially bypass a drillout to JORC compliant resource at Yerecoin, and commissioned experienced magnetite specialists ProMet Engineers to prepare a Scoping Study in order to better understand the various options for product specifications, production levels, capital and operating costs and port/rail planning solutions.

The Study’s design basis is production at 2.5 million tonnes per year of Blast Furnace grade concentrate. Because of its excellent beneficiation characteristics, the Yerecoin mineralization does not require grinding to 45 microns to achieve BF grade.

The concentrate from the mine site would be hauled over existing rail networks to the Kwinana Bulk Terminal for export, or for possible sale to a potential local user of magnetite in Kwinana who has access to the rail network.

Implementation of the schedule indicates production will be possible by 3rd quarter 2013.

Resource drilling has commenced to establish initial JORC resource within current Exploration Target of 200 to 250 million tonnes.

Despite continual heavy rains along the Texas coast, oil storage tanks and dehydration / separation equipment have been successfully installed on site. The Operator has now commenced the installation of the flow line that will connect the Smith #1 Well to the commercial sales line.

Executive Director Peter Landau said the standing water will be cleared so that the flow line can be successfully buried. Once the flow line has been completed, the final stage will be the connection to the commercial sales line.

The Company will provide further updates as the Smith well progresses towards first production.

Range has oil and gas interests in the frontier state of Puntland, Somalia, the Republic of Georgia and Texas, USA.

On the 30th December, SA Capital acquired 3.14 million BRD shares and on 20th January SA Capital acquired 535,000 shares at around $0.014 per share. 

The drill rig is now mobilizing to the Kangiara project to commence a 7‐hole programme.

At Rosedale, two holes were drilled to test for gold mineralisation beneath previous shallow gold intercepts. A third hole tested part of a large geophysical anomaly discovered in 2009.

Managing Director Dr Graham Carman said all three of the Rosedale holes intersected minor pyrite mineralisation beneath a 40m thick oxidized cap, and have been systematically sampled. We await completed gold assays expected in about two weeks.

“At Kangiara, drilling will test for extensions of the base metal and gold mineralisation discovered on EL 7273. In addition, four new prospects will be drill tested on the adjacent EL 6274, including Democrat, Secondary, and Southern," Dr Carman said.

"After completion of the current drill programme, we will look forward to delivering our first JORC compliant resource estimate from the Kangiara prospect by the end March 2010.”

As usual, the drop in metal prices is accompanied by a strong U.S. dollar as the speculative funds and investors divest themselves of commodities and stocks to buy U.S. dollars, a well-established market play that continues to reward the big speculators regardless of the fundamentals.

The current slide in commodities and stock markets was ignited by China's announcement on January 13, 2010 that it would tighten the banks' reserve requirements by ½ of a percentage point which is perceived as a sign of further monetary tightening creating fear that the Chinese economy will slow further cutting off global recovery.

China's economy grew at only 6% in 2009 furthering the belief that China's growth is slowing. The basic fundamentals of supply and demand argue for China and India to continue their modernization and put further pressure on demand for metals.

Those same fundamentals as well as the following list are the basis for our continuing emphasis on a 30 year bull market:

Iron production and sales continue to escalate as major producers such as Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO), BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) and Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) step up the world production of iron in 2010 and 2011. China now consumes over 50% of all iron production.

Steel demand and prices continue to strengthen.

China Investment Corp., a Sovereign wealth fund, has invested approximately $50 billion in mining as the $300 billion dollar fund moves out of the financial sector.

Other Sovereign funds are shifting portfolios away from financials to commodities and natural resources. Vast sums of 10's of billions of dollars are and will be invested in mining related activities.

Gold continues to be the first choice by wealthy individuals (and now funds) as a safe haven. Commodities, especially metal, are now beginning to attract these same investors.

New mines can take up to eight years to develop which will restrict the supply side.

The Western world appears to be intent on stifling the development of new mines rather than encouraging investment. In today's world, mining companies have proven to be good corporate citizens concerned about the environment, the creation of jobs, and adding to the wealth of their jurisdictions.

To continue to stifle the advancement of mining in the free world only makes us vulnerable and dependent on more hostile countries that are building their minerals wealth.

China will become more aggressive in securing mineral resources off shore for their decades of modernization. India will soon become a serious competitor with China in this regard.

Idled mine capacity has now been reinstated with existing brownfield operation (especially in iron and manganese) substantially maximizing production.

Large LME stocks of metals work well for the major consumer China to mediate the rise and volatility of base metal prices, otherwise China could purchase those stockpiles with ease.

If we monitor and follow the lead that China is adopting there should be little doubt that China is concerned about future supply and taking steps to secure the metals it requires offshore.

2009 has been the best year for commodities since the early 1970's as the vastly oversold sector from precious, base and specialty metals rapidly appreciated in price reversing the fortunes of some of our largest mining giants around the world as well as focusing attention on the continuing demand by China for all metals.

Gold

Gold, the leader of the metals pack, recorded a record high of $1,226/oz. in 2009. 2010 should see a breakthrough of $1,500/oz. on its way to $2,000/oz. Eventually as the world turns to a new gold backed currency the price of gold will be pegged at much higher prices.

The realization that gold is the safest haven in these economic times has finally crystallized and will underpin the gold market for years to come. China is again taking the lead not only in world gold production but consumption as well.

China narrowly beat out India in household consumption at 432 tonnes versus 422 tonnes. Now that China encourages its citizens to invest in precious metals as well as central bank purchases it will be a driving force in the future price of gold.

More and more central banks are increasing their purchases of gold as western banks are selling less. The fundamentals of supply and demand have had demand overpowering supply and only central bank selling has filled this short fall.

There will come a time when the only gold available for sale will be from producers with receding production and reserves, who will want to sell their gold assets and for what? ...Paper? Dehedging of gold also will put upward pressure on the gold price as the total world hedge book drops to 11.5 million ounces.

Financing

North American gold financings came close to $20 billion in 2009, not accounting for base and specialty metal financings. This is the tip of the iceberg when you think of huge amounts of cash from individuals, institutions, sovereign funds and now China's mandate for their resource companies to invest offshore, all to be utilized by metal companies in exploration, development and production.

Although the metal prices have been correcting for the past few weeks with the indication the bottom has been reached, on January 29, 2010 the prices are all up with the exception of molybdenum since my last letter dated August 5, 2009.

Rare earths metals

China has been cutting exports of rare earth metals for several years and the threat of further reductions in rare earths could compromise the growth of the green economy. The western world is on notice that their reliance on China is coming to an end.

As China builds out its own economy and requires more and more metals including rare earths one must assume those days are not too distant when strategic metals will no longer be available for export.

Not that China is trying to squeeze the West, but will no longer have the capacity to meet their own needs. The US Government has addressed the situation by providing incentives for industry (Restart Bill) to locate and develop their own resources of rare metals.

In the U.S. the time it takes to permit and construct new developments may not coincide with the closing of the door to export from China. This will create a desperate scenario for crucial sectors of our economic advancement.

Are rare earths the only segment which could become affected if China's need for metal continues to grow? There are other strategic metals that are controlled by China that should also raise alarm bells with the rest of the world and could affect our standard of living, progression of manufacturing, the military and economy as a whole.

China depends on the rest of the world for their supply of iron, manganese, copper and oil just to name a few where they have inadequate production. Some of the metals that China exports and controls as well as rare earths are electrolytic manganese and magnesium.

The Chinese production of electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) from dwindling low grade domestic resources of manganese with a production cost of approximately US$0.95/lb. to produce.

China produces 97.44% of the worlds' supply of 2.5 billion lbs. per year. Electrolytic manganese production and demand have grown 26%/year for six years up until 2008. Outside of China the rest of the world utilizes approximately 350,000 T's (770 million lbs. per year). The world is almost totally dependent on China for their EMM requirements.

EMM's greatest use is in upgrading alloys of steel 47%, aluminum industry 32% and electronics such as batteries 14%.

Magnesium – China controls 78% of the worlds' magnesium utilized in strengthening and weight reduction in fabricating steel.

Rare Earths – China controls the production of rare earth metals required in hybrid vehicles and numerous high tech applications.

The Rare Earth metal scarcity shows how quickly the world could be turned into turmoil. We should be concerned about this and the other critical aspects of strategic metals that one country monopolizes.

The prices of these metals will obviously go much higher either through price increases or higher export duties.

The three "M's"

Earlier I talked about the increasing demand for iron for steel fabrication. As steel production increases it will create a demand for specialty metals thereby positively affecting the prices of all strategic metals including the three "M's", Manganese, Magnesium and Molybdenum as well as cobalt, niobium, tungsten, vanadium and titanium.

Production and prices of the three "M's" are:

The general direction for all metals, precious, base and specialty will continue upward as more money than we have ever experienced chases metal commodities and metal stocks while production and reserves dwindle.

www.metalsplace.com

The soil geochemistry program defined a zone that contains elevated gold values, only 1.1 kilometres east of the Attila gold deposit and 2.4 kilometres west of the Central Bore gold discovery in a parallel magnetic structure.

The original assays and repeat results indicate presence of coarse gold in soil samples.

The soil survey at the Hann prospect was undertaken as a follow up to earlier widespaced traverses of shallow auger and RAB drill-holes. In June 2009, Eleckra drilled 26 shallow RAB holes on the prospect that returned encouraging gold results.

However, the drilling program was terminated as the RAB drilling could not penetrate the hard, silicified felsic volcanic schist present at the prospect.

Eleckra decided to determine the extent of, and to better define, the anomaly by a close-spaced geochemical soil survey, with approximately 950 soil samples collected on 20mE x 40mN grid over a total strike length of 2.8 kilometres.

The unlevelled gold image shows a very strong 800 metre-long anomaly over the area with Archaean bedrock in the south-eastern grid, with grades up to 2.1 g/t Au in repeat assay and up to 1.05 g/t Au in original assay.

A weaker trend is visible in the north-western grid over the area with the saprolite erosional plains, which mask the response.

The levelled gold image clearly shows three parallel trends that continue from southeast to northwest on the saprolite. Anomalies relative to background are of the same order of magnitude over both grids.

The levelled arsenic image also shows a strong anomaly in the southern grid that is associated with the eastern gold trend. In the northern part of the grid from 6,885,360N onwards, arsenic shows unexplained parallel north-south trends, which will be further checked.

Eleckra Executive Chairman Ian Murray said the company intended to carry out its maiden RC drilling program at the Hann prospect in early 2010, while a follow up soil survey would be undertaken in mid-February to extend the grid further to the southeast along the trend.

They made the point that China and India will be central to minerals demand growth. And among the so-called rare-earth metals that are crucial to many of today's high-tech products, China is the leading producer and is curbing exports unless they are already processed into manufactured products. As consultant Jack Lifton saw it, stronger demand has not (and cannot) lead to greater production.

Many of the metals that are needed for items such as solar panels, super-conductors and jet engines are produced as by-products of lead, zinc, copper, manganese or aluminium mining. There is no chance of increasing production of indium, gallium, germanium, rhenium, thorium and tellurium from primary mines.

It is not the same for copper, the metal showing the second-highest price increase over the past year – lead was first and zinc third. These are metals that better reflect the state of demand in the real economy.

Chinese demand is growing and, there are supply constraints. New mines cannot be brought on stream at the flick of a switch. Iron ore is in much the same boat. Price rises will be far more restrained than they were a year or two ago.

Metals Place

But, what is safe about the US dollar when the national debt of the US is approaching 12 trillion, unemployment is at 9.7% and the economy is not booming. Whether or not this makes any sense, the fact remains that we have seen a strong rally in the dollar since the beginning of December 2009 and this has put pressure on the price of gold.

The US job market contracted -20,000 in January versus expectation of 20,000 expansion.

December's figure was also revised down from -85,000 to -150,000. Unemployment rate dropped from 10.0% to 9.7%, which was the best number in five months. This combined with sovereign credit risks in European countries makes me wonder why investors are buying dollars.

Perhaps the answer lies in the current problem with countries such as Greece, Spain, and Portugal. Problems in Greece appear to be worse than originally expected and it seems that Spain's public debt will rise to 74% to GDP by 2011 from 54% last year while Portugal's will surge to 91% from 77%. Obviously this has triggered some panic selling in the euro which has boosted the dollar and in turn put pressure on gold.

In addition to the slide we have seen in the Euro, crude oil price tumbled to around US$71, the lowest level in more than a month. On Thursday crude dropped nearly 5% the biggest one-day drop since July last year. There was further selling on Friday and WTI March contract closed just above $71 per barrel.

Although the prices of gold and oil don't exactly mirror one another, there is no question that oil prices do affect gold prices. If oil prices rise or fall sharply, investors can expect a corresponding reaction in gold prices, so it is not surprising that gold was sold off. However, after hitting a low of US$1044, April gold ended up at USD1052.

As governments around the world continue to fund their operations largely with money created by issuing debt, they raise rates to attract investors to buy this debt. But, as this debt increases, so does the risk for investors. For this reason, I like gold. Even though we have seen a sell-off recently, in the long-term, the prospects for a higher gold price look very good indeed. And as the gold price approaches the $1000 level, we may see some renewed buying from some of the central banks.

During last week, the gold price broke the technical support level of USD1075, suggesting that there will be a test of the next support level of US$1025. While it is not possible to predict price levels exactly, I believe that gold will find support at prices around US$1025 and that this correction is almost complete.

For more information go to: www.lakeshoretrading.co.za

In all, 7 rock chip samples were collected from Anomaly 1, a previously identified anomaly situated on Exploration Licence E80/3398.

Exploration Licence E80/3398 forms part of the 100% owned Mad Gap Project and is situated approximately 65km northwest of Halls Creek, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Following a field examination, visible stratabound uranium mineralisation was recognised at or near the target unconformity. Seven rock chip samples were collected from Anomaly 1.

Analysts are cautiously optimistic that the setting of iron prices will come at an opportune time for the two as a result of high global demand. BHP and Rio recently announced plans to merge iron ore operations in Australia which is also expected to increase profit margins.

However, analysts remain concerned about the response of the European regulator to the deal after the west Australian authorities imposed an extra annual levy of A$300m (£166.6m) on the pair.

Rio's recent appointment of a Mandarin speaker to the company's top job in China is expected to ease negotiations with the Chinese authorities.

This year's negotiations are taking place in neutral Singapore after last year's disastrous discussions which resulted in the arrest of four Rio negotiators on corporate espionage charges.

BHP is expected by analysts to announce weak unadjusted earnings of US$7.9bn for the last six months of 2009, down from $13.9bn for the half year to the end of 2008. By contrast, analysts expect Rio to post unadjusted earnings of $7.3bn for the six months to the end of 2009, compared to $6.1bn for the first half of the year.

Metals Place

Shares in Sandfire Resources closed yesterday 18 cents up at $A3.60 ($US3.12) as a prelude to the company preparing its first JORC Code resource for the Doolgunna project north of Meekatharra in the north Murchison region.

There has already been a lot of number crunching by analysts with some of the more excitable suggesting their may already be 500,000 tonnes in the deep-seated lenses.

Apart from today's results the rumour machine is still running strongly on speculation this junior which has had a rapid rise from being a penny stock less than eight months may be a takeover target. One of the names constantly mentioned is the cashed-up OZ Minerals Ltd.

The latest results will also provide fresh adrenalin for several explorers who hold ground at or near Doolgunna, which until this discovery was an old gold mining camp of little consequence.

The assays released today included a series of new holes into Conductor 1 and the Degrussa lens at Doolgunna.

Better assays from Conductor 1 included 6.8 metres grading 14.8% copper and 1.7 grams/tonne gold; 31.4m @ 4.6% Cu and 2.1 g/t Au; 25.9m @ 4.7% Cu and 2.2 g/t Au, 21.9m @ 6.3% Cu and 0.9 g/t Au and a hole with 20m @ 4.8% Cu and 0.8 g/t Au followed by 14.9m @ 4.7% Cu and 1.9 g/t Au.

A high grade intercept from DeGrussa was 2.1m @ 17.8% Cu and 7.5 g/t gold.

Managing director Karl Simich said generating the maiden resource estimate "is on track for this month."

He said the entire 2009 drilling data base for the DeGrussa deposit encompasses 88 diamond holes, completed between early July and December 22 last year.

Simich said the company would increase exploration for additional VMS deposits near Conductor 1 and DeGrussa, including the Conductor 4 deposit picked up late last year.

The company believes, like the Canadian VMS mining models, that there is potential to discover multiple deposits on the exploration licences.

Well known Australian mining manager Martin Reed, who has helped develop several mines in Australia and southern Africa, has been appointed project manager.

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The well has encountered two oil bearing zones, the lower zone in the Jurassic sequence at 2,355 metres and upper Cretaceous sandstone at 2,174 metres. The upper zone has interpreted net pay of 9 metres with a porosity of 23% with 8 metres perforated and a maximum flow rate equivalent to 5,436 bopd. Oil was a 37 degree API light crude and the gas-oil ratio was at 331 cubic feet of gas per barrel of oil.

Testing of the lower dolomite zone carried out in December and January flowed at rates of up to 2,803 barrels of fluid per day, with test data indicating that the reservoir has good permeability and is laterally extensive. The two tests combined for a flow rate of over 8,200 barrel of fluid per day.

Current mapping indicates that the AKD01 well is in a downdip location on the prospect Doris with approximately 56 metres of elevation updip of the well, potentially bringing the entire lower reservoir into the oil zone.

“The test results on the upper zone of AKD01 show tremendous potential. Together with the positive results on the testing of the lower zone combined production rates are extremely encouraging and this discovery marks a significant step forward in the Company’s development. We believe this is the first test of oil in this part of Kazakhstan and these results open up an area of substantial potential in our Akkulka and KulBas blocks where we have further attractive prospects,” said Chief Executive of Tethys David Robson.

The company said that the quality of the produced oil boded well for the development of the discovery, as did the shallow depth of the producing zones, expecting to achieve higher flow rates with bigger production tubing and more surface storage.

“It is still too early to assess the full potential of this exploration oil discovery but the initial results are very promising and we look forward to an exciting appraisal program and ultimately the development of this discovery,” added Robson.

Tethys’ plans for the appraisal of the Doris prospect include appraisal drilling and further seismic surveys.  The company said that the results of the AKD01 well significantly improved the exploration potential of four similar prospects mapped in the Akkulka and Kul-Bas block in proximity of Doris.

A limited trucking operation has already commenced and the oil from the well is currently being sold to local traders, who collect oil from the site for use in the local market. Further production testing on the AKD01 is planned, which will give a better understanding of the well’s potential and will assist in development planning.

Tethys is focused on oil and gas exploration and production activities in Central Asia with activities currently in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Back in December, the company received final governmental approval for the Akkulka gas production contract in Kazakhstan, giving it exclusive rights in the production contract area for an initial period of nine years to cover phase 2 of the Kyzyloi/Akkulka gas development and pave way for gas sales. The initial planned gas flow rate from the area is 20 mmcfpd (million cubic feet per day), or 560,000 cmpd (cubic metres per day) of natural gas.

The company’s principal asset in Tajikistan is the Bokhtar production sharing contract (PSC), covering an area of 34,785 sq km (square kilometres) or 8.6 million a (acres), including almost the entire Tajik portion of the Afghan-Tajik basin, which is the eastward portion of the prolific Amu Darya basin.

Shares in the company rose 8% in early London trade to 1.62 pence.

The company called 2009 a year of significant change in the automotive technology landscape, particularly for modern fleet management systems used by large fleet operators, with the momentum currently concentrating on driver monitoring, which is the focus of Seeing Machines’ DSS product suite. The suite is designed to link alerts with fleet telemetry systems to allow fleet wide management of driver drowsiness and distraction, which the company said often was the cause of severe accidents with catastrophic outcomes.

The DSS has already caught momentum, having been deployed into dozens of operations across all continents last year, including early stage deployments that provided the company with a “rich seam of prospective business for the company in the period ahead.”

The experiences during 2009 have led to considerable improvements in the DSS, helping Seeing Machines establish a solid installed base through this time and promote the product in over-the-road transport and resource industries, expecting a “very successful future” in view of the shift of the focus to driver monitoring, especially in the mining sector where the aforementioned types of accidents were particularly costly.

Over the past year, the company has supported a field study conducted by a client working in the oil field services business that collected both DSS and driver performance data within their subfleet of 18 DSS equipped heavy rigid vehicles after frequent occurrence of accidents due to driver fatigue. As a result, the rate of such events has significantly decreased as not a single event in 11 months was attributed to distraction or fatigue, and microsleeps were reduced by 54%.

Seeing Machines has also launched its vision testing device TrueField Analyzer (TFA), which was launched at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting and Exhibition in San Francisco last year as the first step in its commercialization plan. The next phase is to complete and publish a series of independent evaluations of the TFA undertaken by a number of experts in the field. Seeing Machines is currently working on regional market development, including evaluation and negotiation with prospective distribution and channel partners, intending to update the market on progress in due course.