Aquarius Platinum wants platinum lovers to pour it on. The company mines for platinum and other platinum group metals (PGMs) in South Africa's highly productive Bushveld Complex and in Zimbabwe through its 50% stake in Mimosa Investments. PGMs, including palladium and rhodium, are used in electronics, catalytic converters, and jewelry. Aquarius Platinum focuses on small deposits and a capital-intensive (mechanized) rather than a labor-intensive mining model. Founded in 1996, the company produces just about half a million ounces of PGM annually, mostly at its 50%-owned Kroondal mine (a partnership with Anglo Platinum).

Acier Leroux, also known as Leroux Steel, processes and distributes more than 3,000 formed steel products (such as steel plates, sheet, coil, bars, and tubes) used in construction. It is one of the leading metals service centers in Canada, with operations throughout Quebec. Leroux was acquired by competing metals service center Russel Metals in 2003. Following the acquisition, Leroux's operations in the US were disposed of in 2004.

X-Terra believes the Utica shales exhibit excellent rock properties comparable to established shale gas plays like the Barnett Shale play in Texas. The economics of the Utica shales could be more attractive than other similar shale gas plays because of its shallower depth and close proximity to northeastern gas markets.With the improvement in horizontal drilling and completion techniques, shale gas development has now become economically viable. The Utica shale gas play in Québec is unique with the presence of several juniors that initially established large land positions in the basin. There is significant leverage for successful development of the play through the junior companies involved.Among the seven juniors that are exposed to the Utica shale gas play in Québec, we believe X-Terra offers a very good upside leverage through its acreage holding in the “sweet-spot” of the Utica shales.

Nordural, also known as Nordic Aluminum, operates the Nordural primary aluminum reduction facility located in Grundartangi, Iceland. The primary aluminum metal manufacturer has a production capacity of about 260,000 tons per year, having expanded the facility from less than 100,000 tons annually in the last half decade. Customers include metals giants BHP Billiton and Glencore. US aluminum producer Century Aluminum owns Nordural.

Since its initial public offering in March 2002, Xstrata has grown rapidly to become one of the largest diversified mining companies in the world, with top five industry positions in copper, export thermal coal, export coking coal, ferrochrome, zinc and nickel. In addition, the Group has a growing platinum business, recycling facilities, additional exposures to gold, cobalt, lead, silver and vanadium and a suite of mining and metals-related technologies, many of which are industry leaders. Our operations and projects span 19 countries and we have corporate offices in a further six countries. Our strategy will continue to rest on delivery against each of these three pillars, but over time, the emphasis has shifted. Initially, Xstrata’s strategy was, of necessity, dominated by acquisitive growth, to build a major diversified mining group with the scale and diversity to compete effectively with the leading companies in the industry. Following each acquisition, Xstrata’s operational teams have fundamentally transformed the acquired operations to extract synergies with existing operations and enhance their competitiveness, improve safety, environmental and social performance to industry-leading standards, extend the reserve and resource base and expected life of the operations and develop expansion or associated growth options.

Metals USA Holdings Corp. provides processed carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, and specialty metals, as well as manufactured metal components in the United States and Canada. It operates in three segments: Flat Rolled and Non-Ferrous, Plates and Shapes, and Building Products. The Flat Rolled and Non-Ferrous segment sells cold rolled, coated, and hot rolled steel products and various non-ferrous flat rolled products, including aluminum, stainless steel, copper, and brass. It also provides processing services, such as slitting, precision blanking, leveling, cut-to-length, punching, and shearing. This segment offers its products and services to customers in the electrical and appliance manufacturing, fabrication, furniture, commercial construction, machinery and equipment, land and marine transportation, and energy and aerospace industries. The Plates and Shapes segment offers carbon products, such as structural plates, beams, bars, and tubing. It also provides processing services comprising cutting, cambering/leveling, punching, bending, shearing, cut-to-length, blast and paint, and tee-splitting. This segment serves customers in the fabrication, commercial construction, machinery and equipment, land and marine transportation, and energy industries. The Building Products segment manufactures and sells aluminum and steel products, including covered canopies and walkways, awnings, sunrooms, solariums, and other products primarily for the commercial and residential building products industries, primarily through distributors and contractors. The company is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Metals USA Holdings Corp. is a subsidiary of Apollo Management V L.P.

Columbia Falls Aluminum's smelting operations produces about 170,000 tons of aluminum annually. Its ingot, sheet, and bar products are sold to aluminum rolling mills and extrusion plants; its customers are located primarily in the US. Swiss natural resources conglomerate Glencore has owned Columbia Falls Aluminum since 1999. Among Glencore's other aluminum operations are Sherwin Alumina and Century Aluminum Company.

Coalcorp hopes Santa fills its stocking with many lumps. The coal miner's focus is its La Francia coal mine in Colombia, though it also owns other coal projects in the South American country. Coalcorp produces about 2 million tons each year. The company also holds an interest in Ferrocarriles del Norte de Colombia, which runs a railroad from the Cesar region to Santa Marta, Colombia and a majority interest in another Colombian mining project. Coalcorp, which intends to grow through acquisitions, plans to increase its production to 6 million tons by 2010. In 2008 Pala Investments took a nearly 45% stake in Coalcorp.

Tinka Resources Limited ("Tinka and/or the "Company") trades in Canada on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “TK”, Frankfurt – “TLD” (WKN AOB 884) and is quoted in the USA on the Pinksheets under the symbol “TKRFF”.Tinka's main project in Peru is the Colquipucro silver-lead-zinc project consisting of 46 contiguous mineral tenements covering an area of 10,234.85 hectares and located in the Department of Cerro de Pasco. The Company completed a 15-hole, 2,670m, Phase 1 diamond drill program in November 2007. All but one hole intercepted silver mineralization above cut-off grade and results included 60m grading 135 g/t silver, 44m grading 95 g/t silver from surface, 66m grading 83 g/t silver from surface, 10m grading 625 g/t silver, 8m grading 551 g/t silver, and 12m grading 4.4% zinc which is open at depth. The Company has now completed soil sampling, trenching, sampling of underground workings, IP and drilling which has identified a zone of mineralization that extends across an east-west strike of about 200m, a width of up to 500m north-south and to a depth ranging from 100m to 200m.A recently completed independent NI43-101 report determined an inferred silver resource of 20.3 million ounces with an immediate potential contiguous target for up to a further 2 million tonnes at similar silver grades. See April 24, 2008 News Release for details of the report or click on NI43-101 to view a complete copy of this report.Initial preliminary metallurgical test work has provided positive results including the following highlights: silver recovery ranged from 90 to 97% with cyanide consumptions of 3.5 to 8.0 kg/t after leaching for 72 hours, silver leaching kinetics were extremely fast for both composites, and although reagent consumption was moderate to high the leaching time was extremely rapid, suggesting further test work may allow cyanide consumption to be reduced with only a small loss in recoverable silver.

St Barbara is an Australian gold producer and mineral explorer. St Barbara's key assets include its Leonora and Sothern Cross Operations, both of which are located in Western Australia. It has Mineral Resources of 9.4 million ounces of gold including Ore Reserves of 2.6 million ounces of gold as at 30 June 2009, as well as an extensive landholding comprising granted tenements and tenement applications of approximately 6,000 square kilometres.The Leonora Operations comprise the Gwalia 1.2 Mtpa processing plant and the Gwalia Underground mine as well as nearby development opportunities. St Barbara's Gwalia gold mine was successfully commissioned in October 2008, with full production expected to be achieved in financial year 2012. Gwalia is the cornerstone asset for St Barbara with an indicative mine life exceeding eight years and high grade mineralisation below the current reserves.The Southern Cross Operations comprise the Marvel Loch 2.4 Mtpa processing facility, the Marvel Loch Underground mine and a number of development opportunities. The Southern Cross Operations have produced between 150,000 - 171,000 ounces for each of the last three years.Currently the two gold operations produce n aggregate over 200,000 ounces of gold per annum.St Barbara Company is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ticker symbol SBM).In addition to the two Western Australian gold producing operations, the corporate office is based in Melbourne, Victoria, with an operations support team based in Perth.

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