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Amadeus Energy Limited (AMU) said it has received unsolicited approaches from US based companies expressing an interest in acquiring the company's assets. The company said, as a result, it has requested Macquarie Capital Advisers Limited to review all of the options available.

Thundelarra Exploration Limited (THX) said it has decided not to proceed with the proposed demerger of subsidiary Trilogy Metals at this point in time. The company said it was not able to reach an agreement with the ASX on the tax and shareholder structure it had hoped for, while uncertainty surrounding the proposed Resources Super Profits Tax also played its part in the decision. In April the company announced that it was planning to demerge its base metals exploration assets by assigning them to Trilogy and that Trilogy would subsequently be listed on the ASX through an IPO. Thundelarra said the decision does not affect its acquisition of a majority interest in the Red Bore project and other Doolgunna tenements.

Heron Resources (HRR) announced a high-grade drill intercept from a hole at the A1 Gold Mine in Victoria. The company said drilling underground from the historic mine adit on the 7 Level returned an intercept of 10.4 metres at 11.2 grams per tonne gold from 11 metres down hole, within a broader zone of 19m at 6.83 g/t gold. Heron said the current drill results demonstrate the presence of significant widths of mineralisation and are an important step to determining the viability of any proposed operation.

Whitehaven Coal Limited (WHC) reiterated last week’s announcement by saying it has no current plans to raise new equity. The company made the statement today following further speculation in today’s press in relation to a potential capital raising. Whitehaven also advised that it is not participating in the sale process being run by Anglo American Plc in relation to its Australian coal assets.

Western Areas NL (WSA) said drilling has intersected a new nickel sulphide zone and EM conductor near the New Morning deposit, located midway between the company’s Flying Fox and Spotted Quoll mines. The nickel miner said the intersection in one drill hole consists of an 88.3 metre interval from 868.4m to 956.7m down hole depth which includes several zones of disseminated and localised stringer sulphides. Western Areas said the estimated true width of the mineralisation is 20-30m. The company said preliminary Niton estimates have returned spot values up to 2% nickel for the disseminated sulphides and peak values up to 6% nickel and 3% copper for the stringer sulphides. Western Areas said a strong down hole EM anomaly has also been interpreted at approximately 640m depth below the main zone of granite intrusions intersected.

Mincor Resources NL (MCR) reported further strong results from its re-opening Miitel Nickel Mine at Kambalda in Western Australia, with the latest drilling confirming the potential for major resource extensions. The nickel producer said recent drilling had confirmed a significant extension to the mineralised channel structure that hosts a newly discovered ore body, demonstrating the potential to at least double the strike length of the ore body. The company said the latest results also confirmed the discovery of a possible second new ore body located in a parallel channel below.

Indophil Resources NL (IRN) requested its shares be placed a voluntary suspension until no later than 10am Wednesday, 23 June 2010. The company said it is seeking clarity from relevant government officials as well as Xstrata’s subsidiary Sagittarius Mines Inc, in relation to media reports in the Philippines predicting that the outgoing provincial governor of South Cotabato is considering approving a local government unit proposal to introduce an Environmental Code which contains a ban on open pit mining in the area. Indophil said the same reports also confirmed that any such ban is beyond the scope of authority of local legislation.

Bounty Mining Limited (BNT) said it has entered into a six-month contract with Xstrata to provide labour hire services at Xstrata’s Oaky Creek North mine in Central Queensland to assist with gate road development. Bounty said the contract supplements the company’s existing operations and is consistent with its strategy of providing underground coal mining services that include thin seam bord and pillar mining and gate road development. The company said the demand for high quality Australian coking and thermal is growing, and this is expected to underpin further growth for Bounty.

Focus Minerals Limited (FML) announced that it has reached agreement to acquire a 75% stake in the Lake Cowan gold-copper project Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields, where the company said surface reconnaissance exploration has produced grades of up to 49g/t gold and 1% plus copper. The gold producer said the lease covers 95 square kilometres with surface sampling coming predominantly from an island that sits within Lake Cowan. Focus said the structural setting, local geology and identified gold and copper mineralisation is similar to that found at the nearby Paris mine, which produced about 22,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 11.1g/t. The company said under the terms of the agreement, it would acquire the stake in the project by issuing three million fully paid Focus shares to Semro Pty Ltd and spending $200,000 on exploration over the next 12 months.

Buru Energy Limited (BRU) said it has entered into a binding Farm-in Agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation to jointly explore and develop the Canning Superbasin, located in northwest of Western Australia. The company said under the agreement, Mitsubishi Corp has the right to earn an equal interest to Buru in the majority of Buru’s exploration permits by spending up to $152.4 million on exploration and development. Buru said Mitsubishi Corp also has the right to acquire an interest in Buru’s production permits in exchange for an additional cash payment. Buru said the two companies share a vision of the potential of the Canning Superbasin as a major oil and gas supply centre.

Murchison Metals Limited (MMX) said its 50%-owned Crosslands Resources Ltd has secured non-binding Letters of Intent (“LOIs”) from North Asian steel mills to purchase more than 50 million tonnes per annum of iron products from the Jack Hills Expansion Project in Western Australia. The company said the LOIs relate solely to the planned magnetite and hematite concentrate products. Murchison said the LOIs are in addition to the existing offtake contracts for production from the current Stage 1 operations. Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd owns the remaining 50% of Crosslands, which is the owner and operator of the Jack Hills project. Murchison said it is evident that the very low alumina and phosphorus content of the Jack Hills concentrate product is a key feature that would differentiate Crosslands’ products from others in the marketplace.

Minara Resources Limited (MRE) said a safe sequential restart of the autoclave circuit at its Murrin Murrin project would commence today. The nickel miner said it would return to full production over the next week. Minara confirmed the previously announced full year production guidance for Murrin Murrin of 30,000 – 34,000 tonnes of nickel, with year to date production tracking at the lower end of this range.

Petsec Energy Limited (PSA) said it has plugged and abandoned a well in the Gulf of Mexico as it was not capable of producing hydrocarbons at commercial rates. The company said of its five prospects in closest proximity to the well, only one has been impaired by these results. Meanwhile, Petsec said the BP incident in the Gulf of Mexico has not directly affected its operations to date, however resultant changes in the permitting of wells by both US Federal and Louisiana State regulatory authorities is expected to cause general delays in the issue of new drilling permits, including the Gulf of Mexico Shelf where Petsec Energy operates. As a result the company said it considers its 2010 programme of 3 to 5 wells to target 20-50 Bcfe net to Petsec Energy would recommence in the fourth quarter of 2010 and would likely extend into 2011.

AWE Limited (AWE) said that the Tui SW-2 well off the coast of New Zealand had been drilled to a total of 3,749 metres. The oil and gas producer said that oil shows were encountered as prognosed over 10 metres in the top of the objective F Sands. The company said it would aim to determine the significance of these in coming days.

Exco Resources Limited (EXS) said that its White Dam project was officially opened yesterday, despite the first gold pour from there in April. The junior miner however said the ramp-up to full leaching capacity was ongoing with production levels already exceeding the planned annualised rate of approximately 50,000 ounces per annum.

Matilda Zircon Limited (MZI) said it has relinquished its exploration tenements on Cape York in Northern Queensland, in order to focus on its near term production projects in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The company said this was due to environmental sensitivity of the western Cape York region and the likelihood of a long and costly approval process. Matilda said the decision includes the relinquishing of the Tiwi Zircon project in the Northern Territory where it commenced mining last week, and the Keysbrook leucoxene project in the South West of Western Australia where it has secured environmental approval and is aiming to commence production next year. The company said the decision followed a recent decision by the Queensland Government to “lock up” part of a nearby bauxite project under the “Wild Rivers” legislation.

Paladin Energy Limited (PDN) said Canada’s Uranium One Inc has sold all of its shares in Paladin. The Australian uranium miner said importantly, this leaves it as the only fully independent, publically listed pure play uranium producer in the world. Uranium One had a 3% interest in Paladin as of an announcement last month.

Bow Energy Limited (BOW) has identified three potentially high potential CSG prospects within its Norwich Park block, ATP 1031. The company said the third core hole well in the Vermont CSG Prospect of the Norwich Park block intersected over 62 metres of gassy coals to a depth of 825 metres including 24.3 metres of coal from the Fort Cooper coal measures and 37.7 metres of coal from the Moranbah coal measures. Bow said the three wells completed intersected an average of approximately 63 metres of gassy coals and confirms the prognosed coal depths and thicknesses across the Vermont CSG Field. The company said it is currently targeting 100 petajoules (PJ) 2P and 1,200 PJ 3P gas reserves by end calendar 2010 on the Norwich Park block.

Tasman Resources Limited (TAS) reported the intersection of strong copper sulphide mineralisation at the company’s Vulcan iron-oxide copper gold uranium prospect, located approximately 30 kilometres north of Olympic Dam in South Australia. The company said drill a hole intersected significantly stronger copper mineralisation than observed in the previous two holes drilled at the Vulcan IOCGU discovery. Tasman said the new drill results show variable, but locally intense copper sulphide mineralisation, which has been intersected within strongly altered host rocks over an interval of 57 metres from the basement unconformity at a depth of 874.2m to about 931m. The company said the largest accumulation of sulphides consists of massive pyrite and chalcopyrite over a down-hole width of 0.7m from 930.2m.

Tasman Resources Limited (TAS) reported the intersection of strong copper sulphide mineralisation at the company’s Vulcan iron-oxide copper gold uranium prospect, located approximately 30 kilometres north of Olympic Dam in South Australia. The company said drill a hole intersected significantly stronger copper mineralisation than observed in the previous two holes drilled at the Vulcan IOCGU discovery. Tasman said the new drill results show variable, but locally intense copper sulphide mineralisation, which has been intersected within strongly altered host rocks over an interval of 57 metres from the basement unconformity at a depth of 874.2m to about 931m. The company said the largest accumulation of sulphides consists of massive pyrite and chalcopyrite over a down-hole width of 0.7m from 930.2m.

North Queensland Metals Limited (NQM) said it considers Conquest Minerals Limited’s (CQT) unsolicited offer to acquire all of the issued shares in NQM to be inadequate following a preliminary consideration. Conquest offered NQM shareholders 0.5 Conquest shares plus 10 cents for every NQM share. Conquest also entered into a pre-bid acceptance agreement with Don Walker, a director of NQM, in respect of approximately 19.9% of NQM’s shares. NQM said its directors would provide their formal recommendation as to whether shareholders should accept or reject the offer in the company’s target’s statement, which shareholders should receive approximately two weeks after receiving a hard copy of Conquest’s bidder’s statement.

Western Plains Resources Limited (WPG) said it has executed agreements with customers for the sale of a total of some nine million tonnes of iron ore fines over a period of five-years commencing in H2 2011, from its Peculiar Knob project south of Coober Pedy in South Australia. The company said the agreements contain provisions to extend the life of the sales arrangements beyond five years, under agreed circumstances. Western Plains said it is the intention of itself and its customers that these non-binding MOU’s would be converted into binding sales contracts when the commitment to project development is taken. The company said as a result of recent enquiries, it is likely that essentially all of the project’s entire production for the first five years would be the subject of similar MOU agreements with other customers, within the next few weeks or months.

Pluton Resources Limited (PLV) said that it had upgraded its Inferred Mineral Resource for the Hardstaff Peninsula on Irvine Island incorporating the latest available Phase II drilling results. Existing Inferred Mineral Resource of 54Mt @ 49% Fe at a cut-off grade of 30% Fe, from August last year, has been upgraded to 90 Mt @ 46% Fe using a cut-off grade of 30% Fe. Pluton shares were up more than 10% in early trade.

Cazaly Resources Limited (CAZ) said it has appointed Asciano Limited (AIO) subsidiary Pacific National Bulk Rail as it’s preferred Rail Haulage provider for the line haul task from the rail head to the terminal at the Port of Kwinana. Cazaly said the arrangement completes a full mine to market solution for the Parker Range Iron Ore Project.

Minara Resources Limited (MRE) maintained its previously announced full year production guidance for Murrin Murrin of 30,000 – 34,000 tonnes of nickel. However, in the same market update as the nickel miner said the investigation of the pipeline failure in the autoclave circuit is progressing as a priority, it said year to date production was tracking at the lower end of the range. Minara said production has continued, at reduced rates, primarily from the heap leach operation.

Cape Alumina Limited (CBX) said it has placed its Pisolite Hills bauxite mine and port project in Queensland under review as a result of the state Government’s declaration of the Wenlock River Basin as a wild river area under the state’s Wild Rivers legislation. The company said the economic viability of the project had been materially impacted by the declaration, specifically by the size of the High Preservation Area surrounding the so-called Coolibah Springs Complex. Cape Alumina said it is now reviewing all of its operations in western Cape York and would explore all avenues for appeal and appropriate compensation as a result of the decision. The company said the findings of an Economic Impact Assessment found that the mine would boost economic activity by $1.2 billion, in Net Present Value terms, and create or sustain more than 1,700 jobs over the mine’s 15-year life.

Kagara Limited (KZL) said it has reached agreement with the Guangdong Foreign Trade Group to develop the Vomacka polymetallic deposit at Thalanga in far North Queensland. The company said the deposit contains a probable reserve of 743,000 tonnes grading 4.7% zinc, 1.4% lead, 1.8% copper, 46 g/t silver and 0.5 g/t gold and would be processed through the Thalanga treatment plant over an 18 month time frame from October 2010. Kagara said the development would result in its production increasing from current levels of 46,000 tonnes to 55,000 tonnes in FY11 to 70,000 tonnes in FY12 together with incremental increases in copper and lead production.