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Utah gold and silver money legislation advanced by committee

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Ladd Brubaker
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake City, Utah
Wednesday, March 2, 2011

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51349269-76/bill-tax-currency-alternat...

A bill that recognizes U.S. gold and silver coins as legal tender and exempts their sale from the state capital gains tax passed the Utah House Government Operations Committee Wednesday.

Supporters say HB317, introduced by Rep. Brad Galvez, R-West Haven, is a first step to creating an "inflation-proof" alternative to the "paper dollar."

Larry Hilton, a local attorney and supporter of the "sound money movement," said that "unbacked money" created by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy is "hanging over us like the sword of Damocles waiting to just come down in an avalanche and destroy the value of our currency."

... 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



While the bill says the use of gold and silver coin as currency would be voluntary, it requires the Legislature to study the "possibility of establishing an alternative form of legal tender" and to come up with further recommendations for the 2012 session.

Jeffrey Bell, the policy director for the Washington, D.C.-based American Principles Project, told legislators the bill would be seen as a "symbolic act."

But it sends a signal, he said, to Washington "political elites who want to leave the value and staying power of our currency uncertain, indefinite, so that they can at will intervene to do what they think would ameliorate the situation" facing the U.S. economy.

"The last time we had the system that we are recommending -- the international gold standard -- it set a record for least inflation," Bell added.

The bill passed 7-1 and will go on to the full House for debate. The lone dissenter, Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, said her only reservation was the bill's potential effect on tax revenues.

"I hesitate to implement some of the tax code changes in advance of a study," she said.

The bill's fiscal note predicts a loss in tax revenue of over $260,000 in 2012 and over $600,000 in 2013. But Galvez said that is based on an assumption that the sale of such coins currently accounts for 0.5 percent of capital gains tax revenue.

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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