Commissioning and start-up of Canada’s first gearless mill drive (GMD) system has been completed at Osisko Mining Corp’s Malarctic project and will increase production capacity at the mine. The system was commissioned by ABB, a leading power and automation technology group. Image of the Malarctic mine by Osisko Mining

Bloomberg reports that in London, Copper inched up for a second day as banks from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to JPMorgan Chase & Co. backed the metal’s prospects. The market news is quoted as saying: Three-month delivery copper on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 1.1 percent to $8,958 a metric ton and traded at $8,949.75 at 3:12 p.m. Singapore time. Stockpiles of the metal in Shanghai Futures Exchange warehouses declined to the lowest in more than seven months last week, a sign that demand may be picking up in the world’s biggest consumer.

As it tunes its rigs to near surface oxides Argentex Mining (TSX-V: ATX) continues to churn out strong silver and gold mineralized intercepts at its Pinguino property in Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Of 16 drillholes Argentex recently reported the best of the lot hit 62 metres @ 88.8 g/t silver and 0.94 g/t gold, which included as much as 6 metres at 675.5 g/t silver and 5.99 g/t gold.

Reuters reports: China wants to help build nuclear power generation in East Africa, uranium mining and investment company IBI Corp said in a statement after meeting Chinese officials in Beijing, revealing China's undimmed appetite for overseas nuclear expansion despite the Japanese nuclear crisis this year. IBI, which has uranium-prospective land in Uganda, said its director, A.J. Coffman, held an "encouraging meeting... with the relatively new umbrella organization overseeing China's research and development of Generation 3 and Generation 4 nuclear power plant designs."

Eyeing potential for high-grade gold tonnage, Canada's Southern Arc reports on another swelling gold-silver mineralized vein in Indonesia. A zinger of a drilling result - wide with high-grade gold mineralization - propped up Southern Arc Minerals' theory that the Pelangan target on its West Lombok property in Indonesia may hold other bonanza-grade ore shoots.

Vancouver-based copper mining company Capstone Mining Corp. reported Tuesday a $18.9m profit for the first quarter, up from the Q1 2010 figure of $14.76m. Cash flow from operating activities was $6.7m, helping the company end the quarter with cash on hand of $181.2m. Darren Pylot, Capstone President and CEO said in a statement that the proposed acquisition of Far West Mining is expected to give the company 200% growth in anticipated copper production from 2011 to 2016 from its Santo Domingo project in Chile. The transaction, if approved by Capstone and Far West shareholders, is expected to close in mid-June.

Chief operating officer of Alacer Gold Corporation Louw Smith told the Resources and Energy Symposium in the Australian mining city of Broken Hill that there were growth developments at both the company's operations in Western Australia and in Turkey.

Reuters reports: Rep. Henry Waxman's attempts to find out if a proposed controversial Canada-to-U.S. Gulf Coast oil sands pipeline will benefit Koch Industries appears to have hit a dead end. Representatives for billionaire brothers and oil magnates Charles and David Koch — major donors to GOP elections and influential conservative organizations — are evidently stonewalling the California Democrat about their possible financial interest in seeing the permit approved for TransCanada's proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline.

The boom in resource industry wealth flowing from iron ore and coal exports to China and India has created a record number of billionaires in Australia, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The latest to top the billionaires club Down Under is iron ore queen Gina Reinhart, who has become the richest person ever in Australia, worth an estimated $10.3 billion. Reinhart is the first woman to to top BRW's Rich 200 list. The list shows Australia now has 35 billionaires, five more than last year, and a cut-off point of $215 million, which is $30 million higher than last year's cut-off of $185 million.