Pluris Energy Group Inc. is pleased to announce that on July 4, 2008, the Company’s wholly owned Argentine subsidiary, Pluris Sarmiento Petroleo SA executed a definitive Purchase and Sale Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Clear S.R.L. of Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina (”Clear”) to purchase a 75% operating interest in the Cerro Negro concession, Chubut Province, Argentina.
The Agreement [...]

Oromin Explorations Ltd. is pleased to announce the receipt of an independent report (the “Santa Rosa Evaluation”) from Aeon Exploration Inc. of Calgary, Alberta (”Aeon”) that provides an evaluation of prospective resources with respect to its 100% owned CCyB-9 Santa Rosa exploration permit and exploitation concession on a property located in the Cuyana Basin in [...]

Export duties being imposed on mining companies by Argentina’s government will not affect exploration or investment in the country, the country’s top mining official told reporters on Monday.
Mining Secretary Jorge Mayoral also said that legal actions against the tax by mining giants Rio Tinto, Xtrata and other companies were unlikely to proceed to international courts.
Mayoral [...]

Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold used Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit Wednesday to do a little damage control on its controversial mining operation in the Andes.
With a ragtag group of protesters camped outside the company’s high-rise headquarters in the center of Santiago, a Barrick spokesman blamed “professional activists” for giving Barrick — and Canada — [...]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s proposal for a South American organization of natural gas producers based on the oil-exporting cartel OPEC baffled analysts contemplating the announcement.
Chavez said on his radio talk show late Thursday that he had spoken to Argentine President Nestor Kirchner about the idea of forming “a kind of Organization of Gas Exporting and [...]

Petro Andina Resources Inc. announced today that it has deployed a third drilling rig in the Company’s continuous exploration, appraisal and development program on the CNQ-7/A Block located in Argentina’s Neuquén Basin. The Walker Neer - Apache 250-40 rig, capable of drilling to 2,000 meters has been contracted from Venver S.A., an Argentine based contractor, [...]

Cargill Inc., the largest U.S. agriculture company, reached an agreement with Brazil’s MMX Mineracao e Metalicos SA to export pig iron made with ore from MMX’s Corumba mine.
Under the agreement, Wayzata, Minnesota-based Cargill will have exclusive rights to sell pig iron made at MMX’s mine and iron-smelting complex in Corumba, Brazil, to customers outside South [...]

Switzerland-based private resource company Glencore International has shown an interest in the upcoming auction of the Isla Riesco coal concessions in Chile’s far south, a government official told BNamericas.
“Glencore has consulted about Isla Riesco,” said Leonardo Valenzuela, asset management executive of SEP, part of Chilean state development agency Corfo.
Glencore, through its subsidiaries, is both a [...]

Electric and gas utility Sempra Energy on Wednesday said it plans to sell interests in two Argentine natural gas distributors due to continuing disputes with the Argentine government. The company will book a $200 million charge as a result.
Excluding the charge and other items related to asset sales, the company raised its projection for earnings [...]

Agrium Inc. announced today it expects to adjust the carrying cost of its Kapuskasing phosphate rock mine and associated Redwater phosphate facility resulting in a non-cash, after tax charge of approximately $100-million in the Corporation’s fourth quarter financial results.
Recent quality issues with the rock from our Kapuskasing phosphate mine resulted in a comprehensive drilling program [...]