Waterton steps up efforts to oust Hudbay Minerals CEO, board of directors

TransCanada’s bid to build the Keystone XL pipeline is facing growing high-profile opposition, drawing fire from the Dalai Lama (pictured), Archbishop Desmond Tutu and seven other Nobel Peace Prize laureates on Wednesday who are following in the footsteps of a raft of Hollywood celebrities and green activists. The laureates, only one of whom is North American, insist the project will "endanger the entire planet" and urged US President Barack Obama not to approve construction of the $7 billion, 3,190km Keystone XL pipeline that could carry up to 700,000 barrels per day of Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the US Gulf Coast and ensure a better price for Canadian crude, which trades at a discount of more than $20/barrel to international prices.

Major Drilling Group International Inc. ("Major Drilling" or the "Corporation") (TSX: MDI) is pleased to announce that it has closed its prospectus offering of subscription receipts ("Subscription Receipts"). The Corporation issued a total of 5,900,000 Subscription Receipts at a price of $11.90 per Subscription Receipt for aggregate gross proceeds of $70,210,000 (the "Offering"). The Offering was underwritten by a syndicate of underwriters led by TD Securities Inc. that included Scotia Capital Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Beacon Securities Ltd., Jennings Capital Inc. and Salman Partners Inc. (collectively, the "Underwriters").

Fear crept out of the markets today and buyers came back. The S&P 500 was up 1.07% and the S&P TSX was up less than 1%. Gold futures rose to $1,652.50/oz, up 3.6 percent. On Monday, gold went as low as $1,535/oz. The overnight stock markets were also up. The Hang Seng Index was up 4.15% and the S&P ASX closed 3.64% higher.

North Atlantic Potash Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of JSC Acron, and Rio Tinto today signed a joint venture agreement on potash exploration opportunities and possible mine construction. The agreement relates to North Atlantic Potash''s potash permit holdings located in the southern part of Saskatchewan''s potash district. The joint venture will cover nine permitted areas that cover an area of about 600,000 acres (about 241,000 hectares) that extends from the eastern shore of Last Mountain Lake southeast toBroadview (see map on website: permits KP 375 in the west to KP 403 in the east).

White Tiger Gold, a Russian exploration company, granted a $10 million credit facility to Century Mining. The two companies will be combined at the end of the year. The funds will be used to help Century Mining expand. Century Mining has operating gold mines in Quebec and Peru.

A Kamloops BC TV station reports workers at Teck Resources Highland Valley Copper mine have voted 99.5% in favour of striking if necessary to back wage and benefit demands. The 1,100 unionized workers voted Sunday, less than a week before their contract is due to expire. The Highland Valley Copper mine is the largest copper mine in Canada and one of the largest copper mining and concentrating operations in the world. Teck announced last week a $475 million upgrade of its 40-year-old Highland Valley mill to bring it in line with the mine's 2025 end of life, and a separate $210 million investment at a BC lead and zinc operation.

Detour Gold (TSE:DGC), a gold and exploration company located in northeastern Ontario, announced that it will acquire Trade Wind Ventures, which owns a property adjacent to the Detour Lake project, for $84 million. Announcing the deal on Monday, Detour Gold said Trade Winds shareholders will receive 0.0142 of a Detour Gold share and C$0.0001 in cash for each Trade Winds share held.

Ivanhoe Mines said in a statement today that the investment agreement for the Oyu Tolgoi Project remains a fair and legally binding contract that deserves and requires the unqualified support of all parties. Media reports during the weekend quoted Mongolia's Mineral Resources and Energy Minister D. Zorigt as indicating that Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto would receive a letter from the Mongolian government asking the companies to consider entering into discussions to address a possible change to the investment agreement. A reported potential proposed change would see acceleration of the government's right to increase its current 34% interest in Oyu Tolgoi to 50% by purchasing an additional 16% at fair market value at some future point, after Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto recoup their capital investments in the project.

The Ottawa Citizen reports that the Ontario NDP, which is fighting a provincial election and challenging the incumbent Liberal Party, want to change the provincial mining act so more mine processing work stays in the province. The Liberal Party says such legislation would ultimately hurt the industry.