Record high prices were achieved in specific categories, with strong demand from US and Indian buyers supporting sales

Namdeb, which plans to produce 600,000 carats in 2012, expects the new mine to produce 45,000 carats a year.

Gold prices climbed on Friday as the dollar fell to the lowest rate in a month against several currencies.

The resource sector liked it and the environmentalists were less keen on Budget 2012.

Organizations, no matter their size, simply can’t afford to ignore occupational health and safety (OH&S) risks as an integral part of their business management. When it comes to complying with OH&S legislation, the biggest risk of all for an organization is to do nothing.

The Doe Run Company had to declare force majeure at its lead smelter in Herculaneum, Missouri, after a fire at the plant.

Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corp will pay $81.25 million to acquire a 25% ownership in the Marathon PGM and copper project owned by Stillwater Mining.

Carbon Friendly Solutions Inc. (CNSX: CFQ) announced the company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Microcoal International Inc. (“MCI”), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Hebei Iron and Steel Group Limited (“HBIS”), a major iron and steel producer in China, setting out the terms for a detailed project design package to be developed for a large scale industrial facility.

Infographics design firm Visual Capitalist has constructed a very interesting infographic on the Canadian oil boom. Thanks mostly to the northern Alberta oilsands, the amount of crude oil underneath Canadian soil or waters has gushed from a mere 7 billion barrels a decade ago to an astonishing 175 billion barrels. The only countries with more crude oil than Canada are Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.

Canada-based gold producer Centerra Gold Inc. (TSX:CG) announced today that increased ice movement in the southeast section of the pit will delay scheduled access to the high grade SB zone. Preliminary engineering analysis now indicates production of 390,000 to 410,000 ounces of gold in 2012 at its Kumtor mine, rather than between 575,000 and 625,000 ounces as previously forecast. The revised production profile will continue to be weighted to the fourth quarter.