Six precious metal explorers that may hit it big this summer

Gold slid on Friday, closing its worst week since June, as profit-taking by investors and a spike in the U.S. dollar outweighed the desire for a safer haven. Gold tumbled in early U.S. hours on apparent investor liquidation, but clawed back much of its loss by mid-afternoon as the resignation of European Central Bank policymaker Juergen Stark reignited aversion to riskier assets. But even as US stocks fell nearly 3 percent and other commodities tumbled, gold came under renewed pressure as two weeks of extreme volatility for bullion rattled some confidence in its bull run -- despite the prospect of a second recession.

Bitcoin, a new and private form of currency exchange, got some attention from Paul Krugman in a column who drew parallels between it and gold, finding that both markets are susceptible to underlying problems of "money-hoarding, deflation, and depression." BitCoin, which is well-examined in an article by James Surkowieki, is an alternative form of currency exchange.

Shares of Primero Minerals (TSX:P) crashed 13% Thursday after a month-long strike and lower-than-anticipated gold grades at its San Dimas silver/gold mine in Mexico forced it to revise its 2011 guidance. The Toronto-based company said it will produce 80-85,000 ounces of gold this year compared to the previous estimate of 90-100,000 ounces. The silver production target remains unchanged at 4.5 to 5 million ounces of silver.

The price of December gold added $52.50 or 2.9% to trade at $1,870.30 an ounce in afternoon dealings on Thursday regaining much of the ground lost since hitting an intraday record of $1,923.10 an ounce on Tuesday. During August the metal added 12% as investors sought a safe haven from the slumping US economy and the continuing debt crisis in Europe. The ECB on Thursday decided to keep interest rates at 1.5% and cut forecasts for growth in the euro area while in the US jobless claims came in worse than expected. Bullion was also boosted by comments from the US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke who all but confirmed a new round of stimulus will be announced at a meeting later this month.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 8, 2011) - Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:BGM)(FRANKFURT:IWUB) (the "Company") announces that it has completed the purchase of the Antler Creek, Craze Creek and Roundtop Mountain Properties under the terms previously disclosed on August 23, 2011, August 24, 2011 and August 26, 2011 respectively (News Releases 11-24, 11-25 and 11-26).

Reuters reports Indonesia may impose a tax or quota on mineral ore exports ahead of a planned regulation to ban all exports of raw minerals by 2014, the industry ministry said on Wednesday. The planned ban is part of a mining and coal law introduced in 2009 that requires miners to process minerals into higher value products before exporting them. The move would negatively impact copper miners Newmont and Freeport as currently only 30% of output is processed domestically and comes on top of news that workers at Freeport's massive Grasberg mine in the Papua province plan a second strike next week after wages negotiations broke down.

The price of December gold – the most actively traded contract – dropped by almost $80 to trade below $1,800 an ounce on Wednesday morning. By midday bullion had regained some of its footing but was still down just over 3% or $56.60, at 1,816/oz in New York as traders banked profits. Gold has declined $120 in less than 24 hours after setting an intraday record of $1,923.10 an ounce on Tuesday. During August the metal added 12% as investors sought a safe haven from the slumping US economy and the continuing debt crisis in Europe. Despite the losses many analysts believe gold will hit $2,000 an ounce soon as talk of another round of monetary stimulus or a direct injection into the economy as part of a jobs programme lead to more cheap money entering the financial markets.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 7, 2011) - Astral Mining Corporation (TSX VENTURE:AA)(TSX VENTURE:AA.WT)(PINK SHEETS:AAMJF)(FRANKFURT:A7DA) ("Astral" or "the Company") is very pleased to announce commencement of diamond drilling on its 4,168ha Los Crestones gold-silver project, located within the Sierra Madre gold-silver belt of western Mexico in Sinaloa state. Three parallel vein/breccia zones, named Corona, Bohemia and Indio will be tested in this first-ever drilling program at Los Crestones. Astral plans to complete a minimum of 2,500m of HQ and NTW sized diamond core drilling during the program using a highly mobile diamond drill supplied by Energold Drilling Mexico.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 7, 2011) - ("Stronghold" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:Z) The Company is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Letter of Intent with Mowasi Gold Corp. ("Mowasi") whereby Stronghold has agreed to acquire a ninety-five (95%) interest in the 23 prospecting permits medium scale and 8 mining permits medium scale (collectively the "Concessions") in which Mowasi has an exclusive interest and which are contiguous to the Company's Eagle Mountain Project in Guyana under the following terms and conditions: