The best result at Belinau include 1.60 metres @ 17.89 g/t Au and 17.0 g/t Ag.

Mapping, float and channel sample results at Glumbuk (Tandai project) indicate the potential for a significant subsurface drill target.

The principal objective of this initial program of 25 diamond holes, approximately 5,000 metres of drilling, is to test the down dip potential of the higher grade veins at Bujang, Belinau and Buluh with a program of step out drilling on a 50 metre x 50 metre grid.

A second objective is to obtain better geological definition of the halo mineralisation and to obtain samples of halo mineralisation for further metallurgical test work.

Results so far show that the vein mineralisation does, generally, extend deeper than established by prior drilling with a particularly strong showing at Belinau.

This, and the definition of the halo mineralisation encountered, will contribute to an upgraded resource on the conclusion of the drilling program.

To date, a total of 6 holes have been completed for approximately 1,200 metres. Drilling of the seventh hole, located at Buluh South, is in progress.

Results from the three holes at Buluh North would indicate that mineralisation, whilst present, is beginning to weaken at depth, however one intercept from the central hole in the main vein returned 4.55 metres @ 3.56g/t Au and 106.3g/t Ag indicating good continuity at depth in this section.

At Tandai, recent surface mapping of alteration has confirmed the westward continuation of the Glumbuk structure. Clay-silica alteration has so far been traced for a distance of some 1.5 kilometres.

Quartz float samples collected from the Sungai Landai drainage to the north of the Glumbuk structure returned a best result of 21.0g/t Au and 91.8g/t Ag.

Additionally, channel sampling, using a diamond saw, of a quartz vein in the hanging wall to the Glumbuk system exposed near the Sungai Aswan drainage gave 3 metres @ 3.72g/t Au and 160g/t Ag.

Work at Tandai will resume in the second quarter of 2010 with the intention of defining drill targets at Glumbuk for drilling subsequently.

Managing Director Jocelyn Waller said Sumatra Copper & Gold was pleased that the results from the first few holes of the latest drilling at Tembang confirmed that the vein system there runs deeper than in the currently defined resource.

“The 17.89g/t Au intercept at Belinau shows too that the system contains significant high grade portions. We are hopeful that these results and the better definition of the halo mineralisation we are obtaining will lead to a meaningful resource upgrade on the completion of the program,” Ms Waller said.

“At Tandai the latest results at Glumbuk underpin our belief that Glumbuk has the potential to host a high grade gold/silver vein system comparable to the Tandai vein system to the north previously mined by the Dutch and post-war.

“In our view, Glumbuk is shaping up to be an outstanding drill target and work will now intensify there to ready it for drilling later this year.”

Blackthorn Resources Limited (ASX: BTR) is pleased to advise that its joint venture
partner BHP Billiton, as manager and holder of the Mumbwa large-scale prospecting
licence (LPL 374) in Zambia, has been granted renewal of the prospecting licence for a
further two years to allow continuation of exploration activity in the region.
The Mumbwa prospecting licence application submitted to the Mining and Cadastral office
was for an area covering 500 sq km. This area represents a reduction in the former
prospecting licence by 50% which is in accordance with existing Zambian legislation. The
JV partners worked in collaboration to mutually decide on the area retained under the
Mumbwa prospecting licence.
The Mumbwa JV is targeting an Iron-Oxide Copper Gold style of mineralisation and has
been encouraged by exploration efforts since inception of the joint venture in late 2004.
Currently the JV partners have focused exploration over three anomalous regions (the
Kitumba, Mutoya and Mushingashi anomalies) which extend along strike for a distance of
approximately 20 kilometers.
The Kitumba Anomaly extends for approximately 1km along strike and is at the most
advanced stage of exploration being the focus of previous drilling programs. An initial
Inferred Mineral Resource for the Kitumba Anomaly was released in late 2009.
Exploration activity at Mumbwa is now focusing on the Mushingashi anomaly. However,
drilling has been suspended due to the annual wet season although some on-site work is
continuing to improve safety and upgrade the office and accommodation facilities.
In January 2010 BHP Billiton made its election to manage and fund Phase 4 exploration
work including a concept study. A decision has been made to award drilling contract work
to Boart Longyear. The current plan is to establish 2 drill rigs to commence operations
once the wet season is over. Exploration work is planned to recommence in April 2010.

And the Canadian government, which has previously expressed concerns over Pakistan’s handling of the planned Reko Diq mine, told Canwest News Service yesterday Canada “expects that all parties will honour their contractual agreements with Canadian companies.”

The proposed mine, located in a narrow wedge of Western Pakistan between Afghanistan and Iran, has emerged as a priority initiative for both Toronto-based Barrick — the world’s largest gold producer — and for Canada’s international trade ministry, which has been pressing Pakistani officials in recent weeks to fulfil their obligations under a 2006 Pakistani-Canadian-Chilean agreement potentially worth billions of dollars.

But the Financial Times newspaper reported on Saturday that Nawab Muhammad Aslam Khan Raisani — chief minister of Baluchistan province, where the Reko Diq deposit is located — has ruled out further foreign involvement in the project.

“We will not extend any further contracts either to the existing companies or to anyone else,” Mr. Raisani told the British newspaper. Barrick and the Chilean firm Antofagasta “only have an exploration licence, which does not cover extraction.”

Ye s t e r d a y, s p o k e s m a n Richard Walker with the Department of Foreign Affairs

and International Trade told Canwest News Service: “We are aware of the news report regarding Barrick Gold’s operations in Pakistan” and “our officials are in the process of gathering more information from the parties involved.”

He also voiced Canada’s warning that Pakistan and the other partners in the project should “honour their contractual agreements” with Barrick.

Recent news reports have indicated China — which has made major investments in Pakistan — was exerting pressure on local authorities to curb other countries’ economic activity in the region.

Trouble over the Reko Diq development also appears to stem from tensions between Pakistan’s central government and the leaders of Baluchistan’s provincial government.

But Barrick spokesman Vincent Borg said yesterday Barrick will continue work at Reko Diq until its future with the project is clarified by Pakistan’s government.

“At Reko Diq, we [the joint-venture partners] are in the final stages of review of the feasibility study, and progress continues on the baseline environmental and social-impact assessment, which is expected to be completed in the first half of this year,” said Borg, Barrick’s executive vice-president of communications.

“We have not received any official notification or decision of the government, so will continue to have discussi ons with them to clarify things.”

Barrick, the world’s largest gold miner, agreed in October to buy a 70 percent stake in El Morro — a copper and gold project — from its owner, Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata (XTA.L), for $465 million.

But that bid was scuttled when New Gold, the minority stakeholder in El Morro, claimed right of first refusal on Xstrata’s stake and structured a deal to sell it to Goldcorp. Barrick said in mid-January it would sue Goldcorp and New Gold, claiming the deal was structured improperly.

In a statement on Tuesday, Goldcorp said it had completed the transaction, but Barrick spokesman Vince Borg said Barrick still expects to see New Gold and Goldcorp in court.

“Fundamentally, we remain of the view that Xstrata were obliged to close with us,” he said. “Whether they closed or not, the courts will sort out.”

Barrick filed its claim in an Ontario court, even though its disagreement centers on an interpretation of Chilean law.

Toronto-based Barrick alleges New Gold and Goldcorp acted improperly when New Gold essentially transferred its right of first refusal on the stake to Goldcorp.

El Morro is an advanced stage project holding reserves of 5.7 billion pounds of copper and 6.7 million ounces of gold.

While it is more of a copper than a gold project, gold miners are increasingly embracing projects with a high proportion of base metals due to a scarcity of large pure gold projects.

Barrick hopes to realize costs savings due to El Morro’s proximity to other operations it has in the area, including its Pascua Lama project.

Vancouver-based Goldcorp, the world’s No. 2 gold miner by market value, hopes to establish a presence in Chile.

A court date has not yet been set.

Barrick shares were up 62 Canadian cents at C$39.65 on the Toronto Stock Exchange in late trade on Wednesday, while Goldcorp was up 40 Canadian cents at C$40.48. Vancouver-based New Gold was up 9 Canadian cents at C$5.08.

The Quang Tri Copper Project in Quang Tri Province is underlain by Devonian to Carboniferous aged sediments intruded by porphyry and other granitoids. Several extensive gold and gold-copper occurrences associated with the granitoid intrusives are known on the property making this a prime target for Sepon-like gold-copper deposits. The producing Sepon Mine in Laos has resources in excess of 3 million ounces gold and 1.8 million tons of copper metal.

NWT’s CEO John Lynch is very excited about the potential the property has to host a significant copper/gold deposit and believes it has the possibility of being very positive for building shareholder value. Under the supervision of Anton Esterhuizen, NWT’s technical team is already present in Vietnam working with local experts and have commenced preliminary exploration on the property by evaluation of the known gold-copper mineral deposits while simultaneously conducting surveys of a more regional nature to identify new mineral deposits.

Investors appeared to react to the news, with shares in the company spiking 18c, or 5.3%, to $3.60.

The results continue to reinforce the thickness and quality of the three high-grade VMS copper-gold lenses delineated at the DeGrussa Project – namely the DeGrussa, Conductor 1 and Conductor 4 lenses.

The most significant results from Conductor 1 lens includes 31.4m @ 4.6% Cu, 2.1g/t Au (DGDD-076), 26.0m @ 3.8% Cu, 1.4g/t Au (DGDD-079), 25.9m @ 4.7% Cu, 2.2g/t Au (DGDD-075), 23.7m @ 5.4% Cu, 1.9g/t Au (DGDD-073) and 21.9m @ 6.3% Cu, 0.9g/t Au (DGDD-077).

Another high-grade intersection from DeGrussa lens was 2.1m @ 17.8% Cu, 7.5g/t Au (DGDD-069).

The drilling was completed on a 40m by 40m surface drill-hole pattern, with the results forming the basis of the initial JORC compliant resource estimate which will encompass the DeGrussa and Conductor 1 lenses.

Further drilling is required to complete a JORC compliant resource estimate for Conductor 4.

The resource estimate, which will also be independently checked by McDonald Speijers, is on track to be completed and announced to the market during February 2010. This resource estimate will represent a key milestone for the Project, providing a strong foundation to progress the DeGrussa Project to a Scoping Study in 2010.

In addition, further significant mineralised intercepts continue to be recorded from the DeGrussa, Conductor 1 and Conductor 4 lenses.

In addition, Sandfire will commence regional diamond drill testing to progressively test a series of VTEM targets within the host sequence of the Narracoota Volcanics identified from the regional airborne EM surveys over Sandfire’s tenement holdings at Doolgunna. The objective of Sandfire’s regional program is to test the potential for the Doolgunna Project to emerge as a new VMS Camp with multiple deposits.

Sandfire has also appointed senior Australian mining executive Mr Martin Reed to the newly created position of Project Manager, to lead the development of the DeGrussa Project.

Mr Reed is a qualified Mining Engineer with over 30 years experience across a range of commodities and sizes of operations including most recently as Chief Operating Officer for a number of metals companies including St Barbara and Windimurra Vanadium.

The Company has also strengthened its corporate team with the appointment of highly experienced resource executive Matthew Fitzgerald as Chief Financial Officer. Mr Fitzgerald is a Chartered Accountant who commenced his career in the Assurance and Advisory division of KPMG before joining ASX-listed diamond producer Kimberley Diamond Company NL in 2003 as Chief Financial Officer and Director, a position he held until June 2008.

Mr Fitzgerald has recently held a number of business consulting roles in the resources and aquaculture industries, assisting companies in project development.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of First Quantum Minerals Ltd.

G. Clive Newall, President

For further information visit our web site at www.first-quantum.com.

Certain information contained in this news release constitutes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements or information, including but not limited to those with respect to the prices of gold, copper, cobalt and sulphuric acid, estimated future production, estimated costs of future production, the Company’s hedging policy and permitting time lines, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such factors include, among others, the actual prices of copper, gold, cobalt and sulphuric acid, the factual results of current exploration, development and mining activities, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company’s documents filed from time to time with the Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario Securities Commissions, the Autorite des marches financiers in Quebec, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the London Stock Exchange.

Lu Youqing, vice-president of Aluminium Corp of China (Chinalco), said that the state-owned group was studying worldwide copper resources to identify the best investment opportunities.

“Copper is our next main development target,” Mr Lu said in an interview with Reuters, citing Toronto-listed Ivanhoe Mines’ copper-gold project in Mongolia as a potential target. Mr Lu declined to comment on the amount of money that Chinalco has earmarked to make such purchases, however, he said the company is yet to enter talks with any potential sellers.

Copper prices have surged by 130pc since the start of 2009, with the aluminium price up a more modest 44pc, The positive outlook for copper prices prompted Chinalco to establish a subsidiary last year, China Copper Company. The unit now has about 60bn yuan of assets, but there are no imminent plans to list the business separately, Mr Liu said.

In June last year, Rio Tinto spurned Chinalco’s proposed $19.5bn cash injection, which would have doubled the Chinese group’s stake in the miner to 18pc. Instead, Rio undertook a deeply-discounted rights issue and put its Australian iron ore assets into a joint venture with BHP Billiton. Yesterday, the European Union launched an antitrust probe into the proposed iron ore venture, which had been widely expected.

Chinalco currently owns 9pc of Rio Tinto and Mr Lu also denied the recent rumour that the company was about to sell its stake to China Investment Corp, China’s sovereign wealth fund.

Chinese companies spent more than $30bn buying foreign mines and oil deposits last year, as asset prices tumbled. Analysts are generally downbeat on prospects for the aluminium price, but more bullish on copper.

Chinalco also said yesterday that it had posted a profit in the second half of the year, compared with a loss in the first half of 2009. No profit figure was revealed, but the company’s full-year sales rose 10pc to 142bn yuan. In December, capacity utilisation at its aluminium operations exceeded 90pc, with production costs falling 17pc over the year.

The two companies are partners in the Tethyan Copper Co (TCC) joint venture, which has a 75% interest in the Reko Diq project in the southwestern province of Baluchistan and hold the exploration license for the site. The provincial government holds the remaining 25%.

The cancellation of the license — apparently meant to ease anger in Pakistan’s poorest province over outsider exploitation of its natural resources — would further damage Pakistan’s image as a destination for foreign investment and would throw a wrench into the plans of the mining companies.

“The cabinet has said they wanted to cancel the exploration license but it has not been finalised,” Mushtaq Ahmed, secretary for the provincial mining ministry, told Reuters.

He said there was a chance the deal would not be canceled, and that the situation should be clarified in coming days.

The deposit holds more than 11 billion pounds of copper and 9 million ounces of gold.

A Tethyan official said the company had not been officially informed of any decision by the provincial government to cancel the deal, although that was the company’s interpretation of developments.

Shares of both Barrick and Antofagasta, which had planned to have a feasibility study done on Reko Diq by mid-2010, were down slightly.

“TCC is looking into the current situation and seeking clarification to satisfactorily resolve (it),” said Vince Borg, spokesman for Barrick, which is the world’s top gold producer.

Barrick stock was down 2.6%, or C$1.10, at C$41.90 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while London-listed Antofagasta fell 1.9 percent to 1003 pence.

LOW-LEVEL INSURGENCY

Separatist guerrillas in Baluchistan have been fighting a low-level insurgency for decades for control of the province’s gas and mineral resources, which they say are unfairly exploited by the country’s richer and more powerful provinces.

The provincial government recently said the cancellation of the Reko Diq agreement would be a “step towards getting control of the provincial resources in accordance with the wishes of the people.”

Many investors are hesitant to invest in Pakistan because of security worries as the country battles a Taliban insurgency in the northwest. There has been a wave of suicide attacks over the past couple of years, some targeting foreigners.

Net foreign investment in Pakistan fell 25.6 percent to $1.08 billion in the first five months of the 2009-10 (July-June) fiscal year from $1.45 billion in the same period a year earlier, the central bank said last month.

Goldcorp will advance New Gold $463 million to allow New Gold to acquire a 70% interest of the project from Xstrata Plc, the Vancouver-based companies said today in separate statements. Goldcorp will then pay an additional $50 million to acquire the stake from New Gold, which already has 30 percent control of the copper and gold project and right of first refusal on purchasing the mine.

The agreement follows a bid from Barrick, the world’s largest producer of the metal by market value, which said in October it would pay Zug, Switzerland-based Xstrata $465 million for the 70 percent stake.

El Morro “gives Goldcorp an avenue for growth after they finish Penasquito and Pueblo Viejo,” Haytham Hodaly, a Vancouver-based mining analyst at Salman Partners Inc., said today in a telephone interview. “It’s a large-scale project, which can’t be ignored.”

Gold producers are trying to increase their reserves to benefit from demand that drove the precious metal’s price up 24 percent last year. Goldcorp’s agreement with New Gold follows a bidding competition with a Newmont Mining Corp. venture over Canplats Resources Corp., which owns a gold project in Mexico.

Goldcorp Shares

Goldcorp fell 17 cents to C$43.21 at 4:16 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. New Gold rose 53 cents, or 13 percent, to C$4.55. Barrick, based in Toronto, declined 54 cents, or 1.3 percent, to C$42.64.

“In El Morro, Goldcorp has identified an ideal project with which to re-enter one of the best mining jurisdictions in South America,” Goldcorp Chief Executive Officer Chuck Jeannes said in a statement. “Our strong balance sheet provides the freedom to begin advancing El Morro toward commercial production immediately upon the closing of this transaction.”

El Morro contains 6.7 million ounces of gold and 5.7 billion pounds of copper reserves, New Gold said in its statement.

Goldcorp, which began producing concentrates at the Penasquito mine in Mexico last year, increased its Mexican gold output forecast from 575,000 ounces in 2009 to 650,000 this year, Salvador Garcia, Goldcorp’s chief for the country, said in November.

Goldcorp is partnering with Barrick on the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic, which is on schedule to begin producing in 2011, Barrick Chief Executive Officer Aaron Regent said in September

The situation will extend until 2012, said director general for coal, minerals and geothermal Bambang Setiawan on Wednesday.

Newmont will expand its operation at the Batu Hijau mine in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia’s second largest copper and gold mine.

“The expansion of the mine area will [temporarily] lower [Newmont’s] production,” Bambang said.

The government expects copper production to reach 1,016,949 tons this year, up from the estimated figure of 868,171 tons for 2009. But, the government estimates that total output will also drop to about 644,098 tons in 2011.

As for gold, the government expects production to reach 115,998 kilograms this year, up from the 2009 estimated figure of 105,404 kilograms. In 2011, it is estimated that gold production may fall to 91,171 kilograms.

PT NNT’s public relation manager Kasan Mulyono confirmed the contents of Bambang’s statement.

“Production will drop significantly in 2011 because the grade of the mined ore will be lower,” he said in a text message.

Rubi W. Purnomo, Newmont’s spokesman for operations in Indonesia, said that PT NNT actually would mine more tons of material in 2011. “However, copper and gold production will decrease in 2011, because the ore material has different characteristics from that mined in 2010,” he said.

As of September 2009, gold sales from the Batu Hijau mine were 381,000 ounces, up from 185,000 ounces in the same period in 2008. Consolidated copper sales reached 342 million pounds, up from 201 million pounds in the comparable period in 2008.

However, neither Kasan nor Rubi gave any further details on the reasons for the drop in output predicted for 2011.

Copper and gold are among the primary mineral commodities exported by Indonesia. Other commodities include tin, iron ore and nickel. In general, the production of these commodities is expected to increase this year.

“[Economic] growth in China and India is expected to be normal again this year. As the two countries are the major commodity consumers, their growth is expected to reenergize the commodities [market],” Bambang.

The price of gold for immediate delivery rose by as much as US$8.82, or 0.8 percent, to $1,126.82 an ounce and stood at $1,124.52 by 11.23 a.m. London time, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile gold for delivery in February rose in price by 0.6 percent to $1,125.20 on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex unit.

Following the announcement, shares in Sandfire increased 3.2% to $3.56.

The outstanding results from the latest batch of drilling included 39.5m @ 7.8% Cu, 3.0g/t Au (DGDD-064), 33.7m @ 7.0% Cu, 1.3g/t Au (DGDD-049) and 15.6m @ 4.0% Cu, 2.2g/t Au (DGDD-053).

Assay results have been received for a further nine in-fill diamond drill holes, most of which targeted the near-surface thinner northern portions of the Conductor 1 deposit, while a large number of thick mineralised intercepts continue to be recorded at depth within the central and southern portions of the deposit.

The thinner intersections generally define the up-plunge, near surface portions of the Conductor 1 deposit. This and the large number of thick mineralised intercepts which continue to be recorded from drilling are consistent with Sandfire’s geological model for the Conductor 1 and DeGrussa Deposits.

In addition, assay results have been received from hole DGDD-043, which intersected 4.4m grading 4.2% Cu, 2.7g/t Au, 0.8% Zn and 15.0g/t Ag from a downhole depth of 632.6m on the eastern flank of the Conductor 4 deposit.

This result supports the previously announced results from Conductor 4, which is located immediately adjacent to the DeGrussa and Conductor 1 deposits (17.7m grading 5.4% copper and 1.9g/t gold, 1.2% Zn and 12.9g/t Ag in hole DGDD-035 and 5.1m @ 15.0% copper, 3.7g/t gold from 670.9m in hole DGDD-016).

In-fill diamond drilling has now largely been completed on a 40m by 40m surface drill-hole pattern covering the DeGrussa and Conductor 1 deposits. A total of 88 diamond drill holes have been completed since early July 2009, with the diamond drill rigs stood down for the Christmas and New Year break.

This drilling has generated sufficient data to support Sandfire’s objective of generating an initial JORC compliant Mineral Resource estimate for the DeGrussa and Conductor 1 deposits during the first Quarter of 2010.

Diamond drilling will recommence at Doolgunna on 4 January.

Australia’s Hillgrove Resources will operate the mine, which is 55km east of Adelaide, close to Callington.

Hillgrove will begin a mining and rehabilitation programme for the mine, which will be the company’s flagship operation.

Kanmantoo is said to have 191,100oz of gold, 3.3 million ounces of silver and 292,200t of copper and will have an expected annual production capacity of 8,000oz of gold and 17,000t of copper in concentrate.

Construction work is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2011.

Assays from the first three holes (U029, 30, 31) of an ongoing 25,000-foot drill program have been received. Important intersections from these holes are presented below in the Niblack Assay Table and drill hole locations are shown on the long section at Discovery holes U027 and U028 were announced by CGB (see CBG’s press release dated November 18, 2008) and by Heatherdale (see Heatherdale’s press release dated November 17, 2009) and these results are included for completeness in the Niblack Assay Table. The three new holes were drilled in a fan pattern from an underground set-up and were designed to cross-cut mineralization. However, to date, the true width of the intersections has not yet been accurately established. Intersections from these new holes are located up to 430 feet away from the intersection in hole U027 and up to 200 feet away from intersections in hole U028.

In addition, drill holes U032 and U034 have been completed and U033A is nearing completion; all fanned out from the same drill station. All of these holes have intersected massive sulphide mineralization and assay results from these holes will be released when they are received. Plans are to complete a series of fan drill patterns from stations positioned at intervals along the wide open extension of this newly discovered high grade body. An additional underground drill rig has been contracted and is expected to be drilling in January 2010.

     (1) Copper equivalent calculations use metal prices of Cu US$1.85/lb, Au
        US$800/oz, Ag US$12.75/oz and Zn US$0.80/lb.
        CuEQ = Cu % + (Au g/t x 25.72/40.79) +
        (Ag g/t x 0.410/40.79) + (Zn % x 17.637/40.79).
        Metallurgical recoveries and net smelter returns are assumed to
        be 100%.

“We are very pleased with the first results received from our ongoing drill program and the inherent validation of our geological model,” said David Copeland, President and CEO, of Heatherdale. “When Heatherdale recently acquired a controlling interest in the Niblack property, our senior technical team worked collaboratively with our project partners to reinterpret the geological setting of the entire property and identify prospective new deposit targets hosting high-grade mineralization. Today’s assay results confirm the quality and accuracy of that geological interpretation, and represent a positive first step in advancing the opportunity at Niblack.”

Niblack’s location adjacent to the coast, on Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska presents a number of project benefits, including year-round marine access, a well-trained labour force, a mature supply and service sector, proximity to Asian markets, and the support of community and Alaska Native corporation partners. The project is located 27 miles (44 kilometres) from Ketchikan, a community of 8000 people with important services to support project development, including a deep water port and international airport. The State’s burgeoning minerals industry also enjoys a competitive tax regime and stable, predictable permitting and regulatory oversight coordinated by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ “Large Mine Permitting Team”. For reference Hecla Mining Ltd.’s Green’s Creek, 2,100 ton per day underground massive sulphide mine is operating 225 miles (370 kilometres) to the northwest of Niblack on Admiralty Island.

Heatherdale Resources Ltd. is a Vancouver-based exploration and development company focused on advancing the high-grade mine development opportunity at the Niblack Project. The Company has the right to retain a 51% interest in the Niblack Project from CBR Gold Corp. by expending US$15 million and an option to acquire up to a 70% interest by expending an additional US$10 million and completing a feasibility study. Heatherdale is affiliated with the Hunter Dickinson group, a private company associated with successful mineral exploration and development projects throughout the Pacific Rim.

Mark Rebagliati, P.Eng., a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101, is supervising the exploration and quality assurance and quality control programs on behalf of Heatherdale and has reviewed the content of this release. Sample preparation and analysis is done at ISO 9001 accredited ALS Chemex laboratories in Vancouver, BC. All samples are assayed for gold by 30 g fire assay fusion with Atomic Absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish. Copper, silver, zinc, lead and 29 additional elements are determined for all samples by four acid digestion, followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma – Atomic Emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish. All over-limit copper, zinc or lead results (greater than 10%) and all over-limit silver results (greater than 200 grams per tonne) are re-assayed by high grade single element four acid digestion ICP-AES or AAS analysis. As part of a comprehensive QA/QC program, one standard is inserted into the sample stream in each group of 20 samples, as well as one or more field blanks in each analytical batch. One sample in each group of 20 is a duplicate, which is analyzed by Acme Analytical Laboratories in Vancouver.

    On behalf of the Board of Directors

    David Copeland, P.Eng.
    President and CEO

Neither the 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 accuracy of this release.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements”. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the company expects are forward looking statements. Although the company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company’s continuous disclosure filings that are available .

Talisman acquired a 100% interest in the Halloween copper/gold project from private prospectors Max Pedri and Keith Scudds for a combination of cash, shares and a future net smelter production royalty.

The acquisition complemented Talisman’s Springfield project, where the company said it had generated “promising results” from programmes of surface geochemical sampling. These included two priority copper/gold prospects, the Homer prospect and Abraham prospect, respectively located about 5 km along strike to the east and 9,5 km south of DeGrussa.

“The acquisition of the Halloween project provides Talisman with another quality project within the Bryah Basin prospective for volcanogenic massive sulfide-style deposits,” said Talisman’s MD Gary Lethridge.

“We are looking forward to starting initial exploration activities at Halloween, including reconnaissance mapping and soil sampling, in the first quarter of 2010 in parallel with the start of ground-based exploration at Springfield, where we recently secured the grant of our two key tenements,”

Talisman acquired a 100% interest in the Halloween copper/gold project from private prospectors Max Pedri and Keith Scudds for a combination of cash, shares and a future net smelter production royalty.

The acquisition complemented Talisman’s Springfield project, where the company said it had generated “promising results” from programmes of surface geochemical sampling. These included two priority copper/gold prospects, the Homer prospect and Abraham prospect, respectively located about 5 km along strike to the east and 9,5 km south of DeGrussa.

“The acquisition of the Halloween project provides Talisman with another quality project within the Bryah Basin prospective for volcanogenic massive sulfide-style deposits,” said Talisman’s MD Gary Lethridge.

“We are looking forward to starting initial exploration activities at Halloween, including reconnaissance mapping and soil sampling, in the first quarter of 2010 in parallel with the start of ground-based exploration at Springfield, where we recently secured the grant of our two key tenements,

Taking in the Merlin deposit and another project in the same region there was now a collective minerals resource of almost 140 Mt.

The company said heap leach studies for an SX-EW operation were nearing completion.

Chief executive, Peter Reeve, said the deeper sulphide polymetallic resource at Mt Dore remains open and that the established resource contains both secondary and primary mineralisation.

The secondary mineralisation, which is amenable to heap leaching, was now 53 Mt grading 0.65% Cu.

“We will now work hard to establish the parameters for a second development project on the Mount Dore system with a copper heap leach, SX-EW project following our success with the preliminary definition of the Merlin molybdenum and rhenium project,” Reeve said.

The estimate of Mount Dore’s total contained metal in both the copper and polymetallic targets was 610,000 tonnes of contained copper (1,340 M lb); 240,000t zinc, 360,000 oz gold and 21 M oz silver.

Of this the Mt Dore heap leach project would have a total contained metal inventory of about 340,000t of copper.

In 2008 Ivanhoe Australia started a series of studies into the potential to recover copper from the copper oxides and transitional sulphides by open pit mining and conventional heap leach, SX/EW methods.

With the focus on the Merlin project these studies were deferred pending completion of the column leach testwork.

Reeve said the quality of the engineering studies for the proposed leach pad designs, crushing and stacking systems, electrowinning and solvent extraction plants are of a high standard and are not expected to require significant modification between the scoping study and feasibility study design.

The supply of acid for the project is a critical item with two options being investigated — a sulphur burning acid plant on site, and transportation of liquid sulphuric acid to site.

The Mt Dore mineralisation now stretches for over 2.5 kilometres along strike and continues north over the top of the Merlin mineralisation and down dip to the east.

Ivanhoe Australia, which is 83% owned by Ivanhoe Mines, said that at another north west Queensland project – Swan-Mount Elliott work was continuing on upgrading the Swan high grade zone.

The initial mineral resource at an 0.25% Cu cut-off, was 475 Mt @ 0.5% Cu and 0.3 g/t gold – an in ground resource of 3 Mt of cupper and 5 M oz gold. This takes in a near-surface oxide resource of 16 Mt @ 0.6% Cu and 0.35 g/t gold.

Meanwhile, the scoping studies on Merlin were expected to be completed by early 2010.

At the close of trading on the ASX today Ivanhoe was static at $A3.99

“Rambler had a very successful quarter completing the acquisition of the Nugget Pond Facility and raising
£5.5m in a private placing” Rambler President and CEO, George Ogilvie commented on the project’s on-going development work, “finalising plans to resume exploration and pre-production development and construction so that the Company is on target to bring the Ming Mine back into production during fiscal 2011.”

The Nugget Pond mill facility is a fully operational gold hydrometallurgical mill, which includes a gold concentrator. The facility will be adapted to process base metal sulphides from Rambler’s Ming copper mine 40 kilometres away through the addition of a copper flotation circuit, as well as process the free gold that exists in the Rambler geological system.

During the period the Eastern Canada focused mine developer raised £5.5 million before expenses through the issuance of 27.5m ordinary shares at a price of 20p per share. The proceeds of private placing are being used to finance the acquisition and refurbishment of the Nugget pond processing facility, the associated engineering and to cover ongoing working capital requirements.

Rambler is taking proactive steps to explore potential gold prospects in the area surrounding its primary copper-gold operations and the newly acquired Nugget Pond site. During the period it entered into an option agreement with Seaside Realty Ltd to earn up to a 50% undivided interest in the Corkscrew/Big Bear Property.

The Corkscrew / Big Bear property has had sporadic periods of exploration from as early as the nineteen eighties. Approximately 28 diamond drill holes have been completed in the past, intersecting gold mineralization of varying thickness and grades.

The junior mine developer will assume project management of the property for two years, during which time Rambler will be responsible for all geologic compilation and exploration management while Seaside will be responsible for all diamond drilling related costs.

That timetable — which envisions an early start to development and commercial production by 2013 — would seem a bit more accelerated than what Ivanhoe predicted in October, when company officials eyed output by late 2013.

Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX) is a minority stakeholder and funding partner in the project.

“Ivanhoe is clearly undertaking an aggressive development program on the Oyu Tolgoi project,” BMO Capital Markets analyst John Hayes said in a research note.

Ivanhoe, Rio and Mongolia wrapped up a long-awaited investment agreement on Oyu Tolgoi in October, giving the Mongolian government a 34-percent stake in the project.

Oyu Tolgoi is seen as one of the world’s largest untapped copper and gold deposits, and lies in the Gobi Desert, about 80 km (50 miles) from the border with copper-hungry China.

The initial open-pit phase of the project is expected to cost $3.5 billion, while the partners will concurrently spend $1 billion to begin to develop an underground component to the mine.

TO BUILD AIRPORT

In a statement, Ivanhoe said the 2010 budget provides for an early start on a site-wide development program, pending the successful completion of remaining conditions required to put the investment agreement in effect.

Those conditions include review of a feasibility study, which Ivanhoe expects to be concluded in coming weeks.

“This is basically to kick-start the project from the point of view of infrastructure,” Ivanhoe Chief Executive John Macken said at a mining conference on Monday.

Work in 2010 is expected to include construction of a 97-metre (320 foot) concrete headframe and a regional airport capable of accommodating Boeing 737-sized aircraft.

The company, which has a cash position of about $1 billion, has said the mine should produce an average of more than 1 billion pounds of copper and 500,000 ounces of gold annually over the first 10 years of its 30-plus years of life.

Ivanhoe recently received $388 million from Rio Tinto, completing the second phase a private placement financing deal.

Under the financing agreement between the two companies, Rio has the right to buy 43.1 percent of Ivanhoe’s common shares over the next two years. It may increase this stake to 46.6 percent through purchases on the open market.

Rio currently owns a 19.7 percent stake in Ivanhoe.

Shares of Ivanhoe were up 42 Canadian cents at C$12.97 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday afternoon.

The schedule includes three diamond holes on the Just Desserts prospects as well as an equally deep hole on the C Zone target at Yuinmery, backed by a selection of RC drill targets and precollaring work.

The work is the first major drill campaign on Yuinmery since the Company announced a JORC compliant Indicated resource estimate of 1,070,000 tonnes grading 1.82% copper and 0.78 g/t gold from shallow drilling of the project’s Just Desserts prospect – a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) copper-gold style of mineralization.

Empire’s Managing Director David Sargeant said the potential to readily upgrade Yuinmery’s potential was significant as the mineralisation remained open at depth and along strike.

Shares in the company were 4.7% higher to 8.9c in the afternoon trade.