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REGIONAL NEWS - EXPLORATION ROUNDUP AngloGold Ashanti reports that the mineral resource at the Tropicana gold project 330 km east-northeast of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia has increased by a further 1.48 million oz to 7.89 million oz of contained gold in 118 million mt of material grading 2.08 g/mt gold. The increase is the result of drilling completed in 2012 and greater confidence in the viability of a larger pit at the project's Havana deposit. The growth in the Tropicana mineral resource primarily reflects additional drilling completed as part of a Havana Deeps prefeasibility study targeting the down-plunge and along-strike extents of the Havana orebody outside the current Havana open-pit design. Detailed mining, metallurgical, and other study investigations are under way and will be completed during 2013, with a view to updating the ore reserve. The prefeasibility study will consider the trade-off between open-pit and underground mining options and will provide recommendations as to the optimal mining approach. The results of 2012 drilling indicate that cutbacks on current pit designs for the Havana, Tropicana, and Boston Shaker deposits are potentially economically viable. Accordingly, 2012 open-pit mineral resources are now being reported within a www.e-mj.com $1,550/oz pit optimization shell. Underground mineral resources at Havana Deeps, previously reported outside the Havana pit design, have been adjusted to reflect mineralization that lies outside this pit shell. (www.anglogold.co.za) Coeur d'Alene Mines is acquiring Mirasol Resources' 49% interest in the Joaquin silver-gold project in Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Coeur currently has a 51% interest in the project. Coeur will pay Mirasol total consideration of $60 million, being approximately $30 million in cash and the remainder in Coeur shares. The Joaquin project has a recently updated NI 43-101 mineral estimate of 38.4 million oz of silver in measured and indicated resources and 31.3 million oz of silver in inferred resources. The project also has 39,600 oz of gold in measured and indicated resources and 19,400 oz of gold in inferred resources. Coeur President and CEO Mitchell J. Krebs said, "We intend to continue the drilling program at Joaquin in 2013 and accelerate work on a feasibility study. The subsequent development decision will be based on the economics of the project and our assessment of the political and business environment in Argentina at that time." (www.coeur.com) North American Palladium (NAP) reported in December that greenfields exploration near its Lac des Iles palladium mine north of Thunder Bay, Ontario, is well advanced, with the completion of airborne geophysical surveys, trenching, prospecting, quaternary and bedrock mapping, and till and soil surveys and the start of a 6,000-m drill program. NAP's greenfields platinum group metals properties comprise more than 21,000 ha of land and seven discrete intrusive bodies, all believed to be related to a single, major mafic-ultramafic magmatic event that occurred in the Late Archean. The company intends to leverage its advanced understanding of platinum group metals mineralizing processes at Lac des Iles to explore other similar mafic-ultramafic complexes. NAP now controls the mineral rights for much of the known Lac des Iles suite of intrusions, which, despite intermittent historic work, have never been systematically explored. All of these greenfields properties are located within 30 km of the Lac des Iles mine and mill complex. (www.napalladium.com) JANUARY 2013 • E&MJ; 23