MERGER - Rimfire Minerals Corporation and Geoinformatics Exploration Inc. June 12 said they have agreed on a definitive acquisition through which the companies intend to merge to create an exploration company with an extensive property portfolio, including the flagship Whistler Project in Alaska. The agreement was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Rimfire and Geoinformatics and both boards recommend that their respective shareholders vote in favor of the transaction. Geologic Resource Partners LLC, which holds about 84.88 percent of the issued and outstanding common share of Geoinformatics, has entered into a lockup agreement to vote in favor of the transaction. Senior officers and members of the board of directors of Rimfire, comprising about 12 percent of the issued and outstanding common shares of Rimfire, also entered into lockup agreements to vote in favor of the transaction. Both companies plan to hold special meetings of their respective shareholders to approve the transaction by July 30. Full details of the transaction, including the terms of the agreement, will be included in information management circulars that are expected to be mailed to shareholders of the companies on or about July 2.

RARE EARTH ELEMENTS - Ucore Uranium Inc said its U.S. subsidiary, Bokan LLC, has changed its name to Rare Earth One LLC. The company has federal trademarks pending for the operating names and marks, "Rare Earth One" and "RE1," in both Canada and the United States. Bokan LLC is an operating unit of Ucore Uranium Inc., which operates the company’s Bokan Mountain rare earth and uranium property. The company said it will retain the name Ucore Uranium as the operating name of its Canadian holding company, while using the Rare Earth One brand in association with its Alaska holdings and other rare earth assets as applicable. "The Rare Earth One trade name is a strong mineral group specific brand. Its use will delineate Bokan’s potential as a significant Rare Earth Element (REE) deposit and a prospective source of these increasingly valuable technology metals," said Jim McKenzie, Ucore’s president and CEO.

FINANCE - Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. June 16 reported a nonbrokered private placement of up to C$3 million, consisting of up to 25 million units of the company at the price of C12 cents per unit. Each unit will consist of one common share and one-half of one transferable share purchase warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional share at an exercise price of C20 cents per share for a period of one year from the closing of the private placement. Constantine Metal Resources has the right to accelerate the expiration date of the warrants if the common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange, or any other stock exchange on which its common shares are listed, is at a price equal to or greater than C30 cents for a period of 20 consecutive trading days. The company must give a 30-day written notice to the holders of the warrants that the warrants will expire. Constantine said the proceeds from private placement will be used for exploration on its Palmer volcanogenic massive sulfide project in Southeast Alaska and for general working capital.

GOLD - Goldrich Mining Company June 16 said it plans to begin gold production at its Chandalar property 200 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska, in July. The company will use a newly constructed 200-cubic-yard-per-hour gravity plant. Goldrich said the mining camp has been re-opened and overburden removal has begun. The test pit will involve the extraction and processing of about 20,000 cubic yards of mineralized material. The company is capitalizing this operation through the forward sale of a portion of the gold it expects to produce this season. Goldrich’s board of directors has authorized forward gold sales contracts for up to 1,500 ounces of gold. Goldrich said it has secured US$570,000 on the sale of 841 ounces with considerable additional commitments for forward gold sales. Sales are made at a uniform percentage to all purchasers of 73 percent of the closing price of gold as quoted on the Daily London Bullion Brokers Second Gold Second Fixing on the date the confirmation letter is signed by the purchaser. The gold is to be delivered on or before Nov. 1, 2010, with any gold distribution prior to that date be done on a prorated weight and particle size basis among all purchasers. The Little Squaw Creek deposit is estimated to contain 10.5 million bank cubic yards having an average grade of 0.0246 ounces of gold per bank cubic yard. The overburden-to-mineralized-material strip ratio is estimated to be 0.89-to-1.

FINANCE – Millrock Resources Inc. June 17 said it has completed a C$930,000 private placement announced June 11. Millrock has issued 4,227,273 units at C22 cents per unit to Altius Resources Inc., a subsidiary of Altius Minerals Corp. Each unit is comprised of one Millrock common share and one share purchase warrant. Each warrant may be exercised at a price of C30 cents until June 15, 2010, and at C40 cents to June 15, 2011. Millrock reported that so long as Altius holds common shares representing at least 5 percent of the issued and outstanding common shares of Millrock, Altius will have the right to participate in any future offerings to third parties (except in certain cases including offerings to Kinross Gold Corp.) of common shares or any securities convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable to acquire common shares, such that Altius will, following the completion of any such offering, hold the same percentage of common shares as Altius held immediately prior to the offering.

NICKEL/PGE - Pure Nickel Inc. June 18 reported financial results for the six months ended May 31. The company said it held C$7 million in cash and cash equivalents at May 31, compared with C$7.7 million at the fiscal year-end Nov. 30. Pure Nickel reported a loss of C$500,000 for the second fiscal quarter of 2009, compared with loss of C$800,000 for the second quarter of 2008. Pure Nickel also said it began drilling in June at the Man nickel-platinum group element property in Alaska. Japan-based Itochu, the company's project partner, has reimbursed Pure Nickel for expenditures incurred last year and for spending budgeted for the first half of 2009 at the Man project. Itochu has agreed to invest US$6.5 million in the project to reimburse 2008 expenditures and to fund 2009 exploration activities.