Commodity boom has a dark side as cost creep erodes windfall

Vancouver-based Barkerville Gold Mines (CVE:BGM) has received approval to build an open-pit gold mine at its Bonanza Ledge property in northern B.C. The stock was changing hands at 97 cents on Tuesday, up 8% on more than double average volumes.

Gold is still the king of commodities when it comes its role as a diversifier and foundation asset in the portfolios of euro-based investors, says the new report "Gold as a strategic asset for European investors," commissioned by The World Gold Council (WGC).

The London Metal Exchange said Tuesday it has completed a major upgrade to its electronic trading platform to cope with record volumes and high frequency trading. A takeover of the 134-year old exchange – one of the last bastions of open outcry trading – appear to be in the offing as its major shareholders jockey for position and competition from Asia intensifies. Over the last 7 years electronic trading has grown from 2% to over 70% of the LME's market volume.

Investment gurus Jim Rogers and Marc Faber in recent interviews seem to agree on the dynamics in the gold market. Rogers says he's not selling his gold and Faber says there is no bubble. But that doesn't mean bullion is not still in a correction phase.

Initial underground mine production has successfully commenced at Xstrata Copper’s Ernest Henry Mining operation in north-west Queensland, marking the site’s transition from open pit mining, which is now complete, to underground mining and magnetite processing. This is a major milestone in the progression of Xstrata Copper’s AUD589 million project to extend its Ernest Henry operations to at least 2024.

A new open-pit copper-gold mine in Canada's Yukon Territory would be powered with natural gas. Releasing an update today on its Casino project, Western Copper and Gold Corp. (TSE:WRN) says the company has partnered with Yukon Energy Corp., the territory's energy utility, to evaluate strategies for supplying liquified natural gas (LNG) to the mine and the Yukon.

Gold Fields Ltd., the fourth-biggest producer of the metal, said Ghana’s plan to raise tariffs on mines and introduce a windfall tax could force it to halt expansion projects worth $1 billion in the country.

Ecuador is not a top-of-mind country when it comes to mining, but that could change as the government signals a shift in direction towards the minerals sector, the Globe and Mail is reporting. The Globe reports that the leftist government of Rafael Correa plans to invest $3 billion in the next two and a half years in order to reduce the country's dependence on oil exports.

Reuters reports Peruvian President Ollanta Humala declared a state of emergency late on Sunday banning assembly and giving police special powers of arrest to quell protests against Newmont Mining's Conga gold mine that have caused havoc across the region of Cajamarca for 11 days.