FINANCE - Hecla Mining Co. June 1 said it has entered into an agreement to raise about US$60 million through private placement. Selected institutional investors are being offered 17.4 million shares of common stock and Series-4 warrants that entitle holders to purchase 12.2 million shares of common stock at US$3.45 per unit offered. The Series-4 warrants will have an exercise price of US$3.68 per share and are exercisable for 181 days, beginning 181 days after closing. Hecla said the net proceeds will be used to repay a portion of its term debt. Hecla President and CEO Phillips S. Baker, Jr., said the money raised will lower the company’s term debt to about US$55 million. The offering is expected to close around June 5. Hecla also said due to restrictions in its credit agreement and the need to conserve cash, it has deferred the quarterly dividend due to be paid July 1 to holders of all three classes of Hecla’s preferred stock.

GOLD - Teryl Resources Corp. May 28 reported the start of a 3,000-meter reverse circulation drill program at the Kinross joint venture Gil claims about 20 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska. To date, seven drill holes have been completed. Teryl said a core rig is now onsite and has begun the 915 meters of drilling planned for 2009 at the Gil Claims. The junior said the Gil joint venture partners have spent a total of US$7.5 million so far, with Teryl accounting for 20 percent and Kinross accounting for 80 percent of total expenditures.

NICKEL/PGE - Pure Nickel June 2 said it has set up camp and mobilized drills for its 2009 exploration program at the Man nickel-copper-platinum group element project in Interior Alaska. The Toronto-based junior said it postponed drilling at the Alpha Complex due to remaining snow at the higher-elevation target. The program will begin with drilling at a target in the Beta Complex and move to the Alpha Complex as soon as the snow recedes.

POLYMETALLIC - Bravo Venture Group Inc. June 4 said it has moved a diamond drill rig and field crews onto its Woewodski Island precious-metal-rich volcanic massive sulfide project in Southeast Alaska, where the junior plans to drill about 1,000 meters in two to three holes at an estimated cost of US$400,000. The program is designed to test the center of the east-west trending axis of the East Lake "paleo-graben", where surface mapping, induced polarization geophysics and recent drilling have successfully delineated the dimensions of the graben and semimassive to massive sulfide horizons around its perimeter. To date, only shallow targets within the host stratigraphy have been tested. Bravo said the center of that graben, where the thickest accumulations of massive sulfide are expected to occur, has never been tested by drilling. According to Bravo, the mineralization at East Lake is in the same package of Triassic-age rocks that host the Greens Creek mine in a very similar geologic setting.

GOLD - Fire River Gold Corp. May 29 reported completion of its initial public offering of 1.543 million units of the company at a price of $0.30 per unit, for gross proceeds of C$462,930. Each unit is comprised of one common share of Fire River Gold and one-half common share purchase warrant, with each whole warrant entitling the holder to purchase an additional common share of Fire River at a price of US40 cents per share until May 21, 2011. The company is trading on the Canadian National Stock Exchange under the symbol "FAU". Fire River Gold plans to use proceeds from the IPO to begin exploration of the Draken property located along the Taylor Highway of eastern Alaska. Fire River Gold President and CEO Harry Barr said the company will begin exploration with a C$50,000 phase-1 program.