Celtic Minerals Ltd., (CME:TSX-VEN) is pleased to announce the commencement of a minimum 1000 m, six hole diamond drilling program on the Budgell's Harbour project on the north coast of Newfoundland.

ValGold Resources’ (TSX.V:VAL) latest news suggests that management has hooked a big one with its newest acquisition in Guyana.

Some ten-plus months of exploration work, negotiations and due diligence came to successful conclusion on Tuesday, Nov. 6 as ValGold Resources (TSX:VAL) announced that it had closed on its Honnold Corp. acquisition.

NioGold Mining (TSX.V:NOX) has just finished drilling over 10,000 metres of a planned 40,000 metre drill program on its wholly owned Marban Block property. This initial round of the program is investigating gold mineralization in the area immediately surrounding the past-producing Marban Mine. All of the holes indicated that the geologic features that helped establish the Marban Mine are also present in the ground around the mine.

Astral Mining on Oct. 18 released a report on the ongoing Phase II drilling program at its Jumping Josephine gold prospect in southern British Columbia. Astral’s on-site geotechnical team has sampled JJ Main Zone quartz stockwork over more than 540 meters of strike and down to a maximum depth of 152 m, diamond drilling a total length of some 3,333 m. Management expects that a minimum 12 more holes will be drilled during the Phase II program before calling it quits for the season.

Atomic Minerals (TSX.V ATL) is applying some old real estate wisdom to its newest uranium acquisition in Tanzania: location, location, location – as well as a room with a view. This thinking nets the company over one million acres of prime ground in an area known for hosting sizeable uranium deposits.

PMI Gold (TSX.V:PMV) has closed its deal with Nevsun Resources (Barbados) to acquire the Kubi Gold project in Ghana’s Ashanti Gold Belt. This latest acquisition rounds out the company’s existing portfolio to four past-producing Ghanaian gold properties, giving PMI control of a total 698 sq km in the Golden Triangle.

Investors looking for Alberta energy stocks would do well to notice Pennant Energy Inc. [TSXV: PEN] a promising oil and gas firm that trades on the TSX Venture Exchange. This company enjoys good cash flow from 15- 45 % interest in eight oil wells in Manitoba’s Daly Field, producing medium grade crude from the Lodgepole and Bakken formations.

Goldcliff Resources is making solid progress on exploration programs this year, and the company’s recent activity underscores that fact.

When ValGold’s team of more than thirty exploration experts first hit the field in northern Venezuela a year ago, the company planned to prove up a reasonable sized resource just north of Crystallex’s Tomi Mine. Assay results from 2007, coupled with historical drill results from previous property owners, now suggest that ValGold has completed the first big step in achieving that goal.

It’s an apt scenario for Kootenay Gold’s (TSX.V:KTN) management and shareholders, as they await Phase I drilling results on the company’s Promontorio Silver Project in Sonora State, Mexico.

Universal Power Corp. (TSX.V: UNX, FSE:3U2A) is beginning to catch fire in the minds of investors as it picks up speed with its latest acquisition in Tanzania’s Karoo super group – and prepares to release its 43-101 and the outline for the property’s drill program.