Cameco (TSX:CCO) (NYSE:CCJ) announced today it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its joint venture partners to mill all Cigar Lake ore at the McClean Lake mill. The new milling arrangement is expected to result in a significant reduction in the operating cost of the Cigar Lake project, which is 50% owned and operated by Cameco. The other Cigar Lake joint venture partners are AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (37%), Idemitsu Resources Canada Inc. (8%) and Tepco Resources Inc (5%).

Westminster Resources ("Westminster" or "the Company") has now compiled results for the recent 2,000 metre drilling program at the Company's Sonora, Mexico properties.

Even if both Keystone XL and Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipelines are built, bitumen is expensive to extract and cannot compete with the many new shale oil plays – particularly in the Bakken oil basin where studies put the recoverable oil at 24 billion barrels – which have pushed US production to its highest level in a decade. No wonder Enbridge – busy building out its capacity in Bakken while Northern Gateway wallows in the approval process – said "it's the wild west out there at the moment."

Global diversified miner Anglo American announced Wednesday it has cquired the remaining 25%, along with rights to royalties it didn't already own, in BC-based Peace River Coal Partnership (PRC), for a combined $166 million.

The Keystone XL pipeline project of TransCanada Corp. should be halted because the US did not complete an environmental impact review before work started, green advocacy groups said in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday. The Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and Western Nebraska Resources Council alleges the public process was a "sham" and that TransCanada has already started construction in the lawsuit filed in Omaha, Nebraska federal court. Governors of five of the six states the pipeline crosses have backed the project, except for the Nebraska. TransCanada has strongly denied the claims – all it did in Nebraska was "mow some grass."

The strike at Peru's Cerro Verde mine is getting nasty, reports MarkeWatch, with workers aiming to "paralyze the mine." MarketWatch reported Wednesday there are no negotiations underway to end the walkout, which began Sept. 29th over demands for higher wages and safety issues.

Guyana Goldfields (TSE:GUY) got a nice bump today after the company announced an agreeement with the Guyana government for developing its Aurora gold project. The stock was up around 8.5% on nearly-double average volumes on the Toronto exchange.

Joy Global Inc. has launched a new training course to educate employees on financial measures, reports Ulitzer. They claim that by educating employees in the steps they can take to optimize company performance, Joy Global will reduce costs and increase profit.

P&H Mining Equipment, a division of Joy Global Inc., identified the need for their sales force to have a working knowledge of the financial operations of the company, and to recognize the financial implications of everyday business decisions. P&H Mining Equipment recognized that this understanding would make the sales force more effective at reducing operational costs and defining solutions that address customer needs while enhancing Joy Global’s financial results.

Gold and gold receivables held by euro zone central banks rose by €56.8 billion to €420 billion after a quarterly revaluation, the European Central Bank said on Wednesday. Net foreign exchange reserves in the Eurosystem of central banks rose by €13.2 billion to €191.1 billion after the revaluation, the ECB said in a weekly consolidated financial statement. The combined balance sheet of the ECB and the 17 national euro zone central banks grew by €80.8 billion to €2.289 trillion, the statement showed. The euro fell against the dollar on Wednesday as worries about a Greek default persist and one day after the first European bank had to be bailed out.