MINING.COM Staff Writer

The deadline for a crucial federal loan guarantee backing a proposed uranium plant in southern Ohio came and went Monday leading some to wonder if the project will ever get shovels in the ground, the Dayton Daily News reports. For the second time in three months, investors in a $5 billion uranium centrifuge project in Pike County have said they will give the federal government more time to offer a $2 billion loan guarantee. Ohio officials first unveiled plans for the plant in 2009, promising 4,000 jobs for an area with the worst unemployment in the US state.

Nova Scotia's Erdene Resource Development Corp. on Monday provided an update on the Company's principal projects in conjunction with the release of its second quarter financial results to June 30, 2011. Erdene has a current working capital position of approximately $4.4 million, including that of its controlled subsidiary Advanced Primary Minerals Corp., with 90,323,377 common shares issued and outstanding.

Ormonde Mining announced on Monday it has been awarded four new permits, which extend the area of the La Zarza copper project in the Huelva Province of southern Spain by around 95 square kilometres. La Zarza is being developed in a joint venture of London-listed Chilean miner Antofagasta dating back to October 2009. In terms of the deal Antofagasta could earn an initial 51% interest in the La Zarza permit area by spending US$7 million over a three year period on exploration activities.