Australian junior producer Crocodile Gold has reported encouraging assay results from exploration drilling as the company attempts to outline new deposit areas below formerly producing mines. Work is underway at the Crosscourse and Prospect target areas, where historic open pit mining activity had extracted significant gold production. Several new high grade gold zones were encountered to depth, including 240.4 g/t gold across a 2.52 meter section, and 11.87 g/t gold over an interval of 7.33 meters. Drilling extended down to depths of more than 400 meters and successfully extended the deposit area along a strike length of 650 meters. Crocodile plans to continue exploration work with the objective to outline a larger resource that may be developed as part of its Union Reefs mining complex.

In Mexico, Great Panther Silver has released an updated resource estimate for its Guanajuato projects. Successful exploration work at the producing Guanajuato Mine Complex has contributed to measured and indicated resources of 5,649,000 silver equivalent ounces, plus inferred resources of 2,503,000 silver equivalent ounces. This is sufficient to replace the mineral inventory that has been depleted though ongoing mining activity during the last 18 months and, as there remains great untapped potential for discovery, it is a very encouraging trend for the longer term sustainability of this mining operation. At the nearby San Ignacio deposit, estimated inferred resources have increased by 35% to 6,894,000 silver equivalent ounces. San Ignacio is undeveloped but is close enough to the existing processing plant at Guanajuato that mining may be launched to access these resources as a satellite operation. Great Panther also operates the Topia Mine in Durango.

Junior explorer Orex Minerals has announced assay results from two more drill holes from the ongoing exploration work at its Barsele Project in Sweden. Wide intervals of low grade disseminated gold have been encountered, including an interval of 107.7 meters that averaged 1.02 g/t gold. The hole ended in mineralization and the company plans to do follow up drilling to greater depths as it attempts to expand the total deposit area of this property.

Eagle Hill Exploration has reported further assay results as the company expands the deposit area at its Windfall Lake project in Northern Quebec. The near surface Upper Extension target of its Zone 27 gold deposit, part of a larger gold deposit on the property that has been encountered to depth, appears to have potential for open pit development, as new drilling work has outlined a wide zone of high grade gold resources. The near surface zone of this deposit now extends more than 300 meters laterally. The assay results from the last round of a planned 25,000 meter drill program were reported this week, and included a 9.74 meter interval that averaged 14.55 g/t gold. Several other promising gold intersections of merit also support the interpretation that a resource may be established suitable for lower cost bulk tonnage extraction at the property. Meanwhile, drilling to depth has expanded the total deposit area at the Caribou Zone, with an interval of 6.7 g/t gold encountered over 7.8 meters of core, about 470 meters below surface. This has extended the strike length of the deeper zone to over 700 meters laterally. After the success of the winter program, the company plans to do a follow up summer drilling program with the objective to expand the deposit areas and increase the total resources for the project.

McEwen Mining has announced assay results from two drill holes at its Los Azules Project in Argentina. A headline interval of 351 meters averaged 0.53% copper from this program, including a higher grade section of 167 meters bearing 0.71% copper. This wide interval of potentially economic grade is part of a larger copper porphyry system that has been encountered in previous exploration work. It is believed that a much larger deposit area may be discovered within the system however the challenging ground conditions prevented the company from completing several other planned drill holes to their target depth. To remedy the situation, McEwen Mining is contracting with Major Drilling to conduct the next round of exploration work using more powerful drills. The follow up program is scheduled to commence in October. The Los Azules Project has been in contention by a rival company which launched a lawsuit that remains to be resolved.

Earnings season continues to provide a lot of news flow for the sector. This week Golden Star Resources has reported a 26% increase in net earnings, as the company reported income of $9.1 million (3.5 cents per share). Increased gold sales from its mining operations in West Africa were a contributing factor to the stronger results. A total of 77,725 ounces of gold were sold during the quarter, an improvement of more than 10% over the prior quarter. Operating costs from the Bogoso/Prestea and Wassa Mines declined during the quarter. Golden Star has issued guidance targeting 350,000 – 370,000 ounces of gold for the full year and the company is on track to achieve its objective.

Fortuna Silver Mines announced total production of 953,091 ounces of silver, plus 5,137 ounces of gold during the first quarter. Net income had more than doubled, as the company achieved earnings of $11.11 million during the period. This strong quarter was a result of record gold and silver output, as the San Jose Mine in Mexico came online. San Jose is expected to contribute to strong growth for the remainder of the year as the company has issued guidance suggesting total production of 3 million ounces of silver and 25,000 ounces of gold from this new mine. Fortuna also reported revenues increased sharply, rising 86% to $40.6 million. This is shaping up to be a rebound quarter for the company, after the stock has been in a severe downtrend for several months.

In Manitoba, San Gold has achieved record gold production. The company reported sharply higher operating income as it has been successful to restrain costs while cranking out 22,162 ounces of gold during the quarter, an increase of 51% from the prior year. This generated revenues of $35.5 million for the period, but the company still reported a net loss of $0.7 million. Overall one would state that the company is certainly headed in the right direction but there is still a lot of work to do. Throughput at the mill has risen to 1,687 tons per day and the operating margins appear to offer positive economic potential. San Gold has issued guidance targeting lower overall operating costs for the remainder of the year, plus increased production with the objective to achieve between 95,000 to 105,000 ounces of gold output for the full year.

First Majestic Silver announced a strong start to the year with an increase in net earnings amounting to 10% above the same quarter a year ago. The company generated $26.4 million in profits (25 cents per share) on production of 1,826,803 ounces of silver. This performance has enabled First Majestic to build a working capital position of $108.3 million, and cash flow from operations is funding the next round of mine development for the company. Construction at the large Del Toro silver mine project is well underway and the first production is staged to commence at the end of this year. Combined with expansion efforts to increase production at the other mines operated by the company, First Majestic is on track to achieve its guidance for another year of record silver output in 2012.

Base metals producer Capstone Mining reported first quarter net earnings of $15.7 million (4 cents per share). This represented a decline from the same period last year when the company achieved earnings of $18.9 million, however it was an increase over the previous quarter. Capstone anticipates that higher copper production will be achieved during the rest of the year, as the company has commenced operations at a higher grade pit zone at its Minto Mine. Capstone has issued guidance for production of 80 million pounds of copper during 2012. Longer term growth will be furnished as the Santo Domingo Mine project in Chile advances through to production. The company is working to complete a bankable feasibility study for the project by 2013 before proceeding to construction of a large new mine. Capstone has a working capital position of more than $500 million.

Taseko Mining also reported first quarter results, with production of 20.7 million pounds of copper and 438,000 pounds of molybdenum from its Gibraltar Mine in British Columbia. However net earnings were sharply lower compared to the previous year due to a shipping delay for a large chunk of its production. Sales of just 12.8 million pounds of copper and 354,000 pounds of molybdenum were completed during the period. This contributed to revenues of $55.4 million, and adjusted net earnings of $1.3 million for the quarter (1 cent per share). The bottleneck has since been resolved and the company will book the revenue from this output in the next quarter. Taseko looks toward the completion of construction at its GDP3 Project late this year to provide longer term growth, as the company works to resolve operating challenges at its flagship Gibraltar Mine.

Revett Minerals has announced net earnings of $3.7 million (11 cents per share) in the first quarter from operations at its Troy Mine in Montana. Cash flow from operations rose to $7.5 million, more than doubling the performance from the same period last year, while the working capital position has ballooned to $31.4 million, representing a 154% increase over the prior year. The rising mine production of 324,375 ounces of silver plus 2.2 million pounds of copper, along with declining unit production costs, were the main factors for the strong performance.