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China Investment Corp. stops buying European government debt

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Andres Martinez
Bloomberg News
Wednesday, May 9, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-09/china-investment-stops-buying-e...

China Investment Corp. has stopped buying European government debt because of an economic crisis on the continent, though it continues to look for new investments there, said CIC President Gao Xiqing.

"What is happening in Europe right now is of course of concern," Gao said yesterday in an interview in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the World Economic Forum on Africa. "We still have our people looking at opportunities in Europe, even though we don't want to buy any government bonds."

European leaders are struggling to contain a debt crisis that has entered its third year and led to bailouts of Greece, Portugal, and Ireland. Officials have pledged to tighten fiscal frameworks amid concern the situation would envelop Italy and Spain, the euro region's third- and fourth-biggest economies.

... Dispatch continues below ...



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Sona Discovers Potential High-Grade Gold Mineralization
at Blackdome in British Columbia -- 13.6g over 1.5 Meters

From a Company Press Release
November 22, 2011

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- With its latest surface diamond drilling program at its 100-percent-owned, formerly producing Blackdome gold mine in southern British Columbia, Sona Resources Corp. has discovered a potentially high-grade gold-mineralized area, with one hole intersecting 13.6 grams of gold in 1.5 meters of core drilling.

"We intersected a promising new mineralized zone, and we feel optimistic about the assay results," says Sona's president and CEO, John P. Thompson. "We have undertaken an aggressive exploration program that has tested a number of target zones. Our discovery of this new gold-bearing structure is significant, and it represents a positive development for the company."

Sona aims to bring its permitted Blackdome mill back into production over the next year and a half, at a rate of 200 tonnes per day, with feed from the formerly producing Blackdome mine and the nearby Elizabeth gold deposit property. A positive preliminary economic assessment by Micon International Ltd., based on a gold price of $950 per ounce over eight years, has estimated a cash cost of $208 per tonne milled, or $686 per gold ounce recovered.

For the company's complete press release, please visit:

http://www.sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR18_2011-opt.pdf



The sovereign wealth fund would "love" to boost investments in Africa, he said. The company is limited in how much it can invest in Africa because the projects are not large enough to fit its investment criteria, he said.

The fund is boosting investments outside of China as it seeks to increase returns on the nation's foreign currency reserves and secure commodity supplies. The Chinese government injected about $50 billion this year in the sovereign wealth fund, Gao said. The government has not made a decision on whether to regularly inject capital into the company, he said.

"Right now we are busy enough, so we don't worry terribly about recapitalization," he said. "In the long run, we should do something about it."

The company only considers investments of at least about $100 million in African companies and wants to take no more than a 10 percent stake in them, he said. There are not many companies outside of the mining industry in Africa that fit those criteria, making spending on the world's poorest continent a challenge, he said.

The ventures need to have a return that is on average about 200 basis points, or 2 percentage points, more than investments in the developed world, he said.

CIC will buy 25 percent of former South African politician Cyril Ramaphosa's Shanduka Group for 2 billion rand ($251 million), the company said on Dec. 22.

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Prophecy Platinum (TSXV: NKL) and Ursa Major Minerals
Sign Combination Agreement

Company Press Release
Friday, March 2, 2012

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) and Ursa Major Minerals Inc. have signed a binding letter of agreement for a business combination through a proposed all-share transaction. In doing so Prophecy and Ursa have acted at arm's length and the transaction has been negotiated at arm's length.

Prophecy will issue one common share in exchange for every 25 outstanding common shares of Ursa. Ursa options and warrants will be exchanged for options and warrants of Prophecy on an agreed schedule.

Prophecy's offer represents a value of about $0.15 per each common share of Ursa based on Prophecy's share price of $3.70 as at March 1, representing a premium of 130 percent to Ursa's March 1 closing price of $0.065.

Prophecy is to subscribe for $1 million common shares of Ursa by way of private placement financing at $0.06 per share, subject to regulatory approval. Upon placement completion, John Lee and Greg Hall, current Prophecy directors, will be appointed to Ursa's board.

Prophecy thus will become a mid-tier resource company with a robust and diversified pipeline of platinum nickel projects, including:

-- The fully permitted open-pit Shakespeare PGM-Ni-Cu mine close to Sudbury, Ontario, infrastructure with near-term production capabilities.

-- The flagship Wellgreen (Yukon) PGM-Ni-Cu project with more than 10 million ounces of Pt-Pd-Au inferred resource. Drilling is under way and a preliminary economic assessment study is pending.

-- Manitoba's Lynn Lake Ni-Cu project with more than 262 million pounds Ni and 138 million pounds Cu measured and indicated.

For the complete announcement, please visit Prophecy Platinum's Internet site here:

http://www.prophecyplat.com/news_2012_mar02_prophecy_platinum_ursa_major...