Barrick Gold just bought more than $9 million worth of shares in this junior

Stakeholders in the mining sector said they are targeting to create about two million direct jobs for Nigerians from the sector. Under the Progressive Miners Empowerment Association (PMEA), the miners said if about N200 billion is injected into the sector, it would be revived.

Australian gold production has risen by 10 percent as new mines came into production and ancient operations revived. The nation’s gold output in the year to June 30 totalled 270 tonnes, up 24 tonnes on the previous financial year, according to Melbourne-based gold sector consultants Surbiton Associates

Unscrupulous stock tout services have been pumping U.S. junior exploration companies by suggesting that Vancouver-based senior gold producer Goldcorp Inc. is about to buy them out at huge premiums to their prevailing market prices. The latest tout service to do this is Stock Castle, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidelity Ltd., which is said to be located in the British Virgin Islands.

Workers at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's (FCX.N: Quote) Grasberg mine in Indonesia plan to stage a strike in coming days after talks with the company failed to resolve a pay dispute, a move that could tighten global copper supplies and lift prices. A strike would be the second in two months at Grasberg, the world's third biggest copper mine that also has the biggest gold reserves, after an eight-day stoppage in July caused production losses and helped push copper prices to three-month highs

Gold prices were staging a rally Friday, shrugging off an almost three-day selloff, after Ben Bernanke left the door open for more monetary easing.

Ollanta Humala, President-elect of Peru, fulfilled a campaign promise Thursday in announcing his government's intention to hit mining companies with higher royalty taxes. Humala, who was elected in July, campaigned on a promise to tax mining company profits and distribute them to the poor — a development that had investors and mining company CEOs running for cover in a country that is the world's second largest producer of copper and the sixth biggest gold miner. Companies now pay between 1% and 3% in royalties.

Reuters reports 50,000 protesters battled police in Chile's capital on Thursday, the second day of a two-day strike against unpopular President Sebastian Pinera. A recent poll put the right-wing leader's approval rating at only 26%, below even that of dictator General Pinochet, who ruled the country for 17 years from 1973. The protests follows recent strikes in the copper sector over pay and a campaign against a massive coal mine on an island in Patagonia amid accusations that billionaire Pinera’s shareholding in the developer, Copec, constitutes a serious conflict of interest.

Gold for December delivery fell more than $50 to $1,710 an ounce in afternoon trade in London on Thursday, bring its losses since the record high of Monday to 10%, the worst slump since March 2008. On Wednesday, the Chicago stock exchange operator CME followed a move by the Shanghai Gold Exchange by increasing the margin requirement as a way to “ensure adequate collateral coverage.” The minimum cash deposit to borrow from brokers to trade gold futures will rise 27% to $9,450 per 100-ounce contract at the end of today. Silver slumped as much as 35% in London in about three weeks from its April 25 record of $49.79 an ounce after CME announced margin increases.

One of the largest mining companies operating in northern Peru says that a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Peru Wednesday didn't interrupt operations. Roque Benavides, chief executive of precious metals mining company Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (BVN, BUENAVC1.Vl), said in an email message he wasn't aware of any damage from the earthquake on its operations in northern Peru.