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Warsh, who confirmed gold swaps, to leave Fed next month

Section: Daily Dispatches

Kevin Warsh Plans to Resign From Fed's Board of Governors

By Sewell Chan
The New York Times
Thursday, February 10, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/business/economy/11fed.html

WASHINGTON -- Kevin M. Warsh, who helped manage the Federal Reserve’s response to the financial crisis and was Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's liaison to Wall Street and conservative Republicans, plans to leave the bank's board of governors around March 31.

The departure of Mr. Warsh, 40, gives President Obama another opportunity to leave his stamp on the Fed. In addition to naming Mr. Bernanke to another four-year term last year, Mr. Obama has named three others to the seven-member board; a fourth nominee is awaiting Senate confirmation.

Mr. Warsh, a former investment banker at Morgan Stanley, was had pivotal role in the Fed's response to the financial crisis in 2008: arranging the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase, allowing Lehman Brothers to go into bankruptcy (the Fed maintains there was no other option), and then bailing out the American International Group, the insurance giant.

... Dispatch continues below ...



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Prophecy Resource Spins Off Platinum/Palladium Venture:
World-Class PGM Deposit in Yukon

Company Press Release, January 18, 2011

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Resource Corp. (TSX-V:PCY)and Pacific Coast Nickel Corp. announce that they have agreed that PCNC will acquire Prophecy's Nickel PGM projects by issuing common shares to Prophecy.

PCNC will acquire the Wellgreen PGM Ni-Cu and Lynn Lake nickel projects in the Yukon Territory and Manitoba respectively by issuing up to 550 million common shares of PCNC to Prophecy. PCNC has 55.7 million shares outstanding.

Following the transaction:

-- Prophecy will own approximately 90 percent of PCNC.

-- PCNC will consolidate its share capital on a 10 old for one new basis.

-- Prophecy will change its name to Prophecy Coal Corp. and PCNC will be renamed Prophecy Platinum Corp.

-- Prophecy intends to distribute half of its PCNC shares to shareholders pro-rata in accordance with their holdings.

Based on the closing price of the common shares of PCNC on January 17, $0.195 per share, the gross value of the transaction is $107,250,000.

For the complete announcement, please visit:

http://prophecyresource.com/news_2011_jan18.php



In a statement, Mr. Bernanke praised Mr. Warsh for "exemplary service" and said "his intimate knowledge of financial markets and institutions proved invaluable during the recent crisis."

"I deeply appreciate his insights and wise counsel and, most especially, his fortitude and friendship during the difficult days, nights and weekends of the crisis," Mr. Bernanke said in the statement.

In recent months, Mr. Warsh has at times distanced himself from Mr. Bernanke, who has pushed the Fed to take extraordinary measures to speed the recovery. Five days after the Fed's policy-marking arm voted on Nov. 3 to buy $600 billion in Treasury securities -- the second round of a strategy intended to lower long-term interest rates -- The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed article by Mr. Warsh expressing considerable doubt.

Though Mr. Warsh voted for the bond-buying plan -- by Fed tradition, members of the board almost never vote against the chairman -- he said he considered the strategy a "necessarily limited, circumscribed, and subject to regular review," and added that "policies should be altered if certain objectives are satisfied, purported benefits disappoint, or potential risks threaten to materialize."

In his resignation letter to Mr. Obama on Thursday, Mr. Warsh wrote, "I am honored to have served at a time of great consequence."

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Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit, Extending the Mineralization of the Southwest Vein on the Property

Company Press Release, October 27, 2010

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include:

-- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres.

-- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres.

-- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre.

Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface.

"The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest."

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

http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf