News

The federal government will contribute $3 million to the cost of building an all-weather bridge across the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence, N.W.T. Upon completion, in 2006, vehicles serving mines in the area will have to pay tolls.

Denver-based Constellation Copper (ccu-t) has retained Jacobs Engineering Group to carry out a bankable feasibility study of the Terrazas copper-zinc oxide project in Mexico’s Chihuahua state.

Barrick Gold (abx-t) earned about 10% less in the recent first quarter than in the comparable period of 2003, as a US$10-million after-tax derivative loss offset higher gold prices and increased production.

Alcan (al-t) plans to save an additional US$110 million as a result of its recent, multi-billion-dollar takeover of French rival Pechiney.

Accelerated removal of waste in the first quarter has allowed Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (fcx-n) to resume mining higher-grade areas in the Grasberg open-pit mine in Papua, Indonesia.

Agnico-Eagle Mines (age-t) will acquire 12.7 million shares of Swedish-based Riddarhyttan Resources for US$10.8 million.

The British Museum has reassembled a heavy gold necklace thought to belong to Queen Boudicca, a Celtic warrior of the Iceni tribe who led a revolt against invading Romans in the Iron Age.

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