Cash-rich Newmont Mining mulls boosting dividend as peers pursue debt reduction

Each year, Dr Murenbeeld chooses this event to present his views and forecasts for gold for the year ahead, and over the years he has proved to be one of the most accurate forecasters out there - but with three scenarios - cautious, middle and optimistic - he usually comes close with one or more of these - but he does give weighted likelihoods for each of his prediction scenarios.

An organisation operating out of Dillon in Nevada has been formed as "Jewelers for Japan" to raise funds for the thousands of victims in Japan and it is asking jewelers and consumers to donate scrap gold and silver jewellery in lieu of cash. The refiner Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico will refine the gold and silver scrap without a fee with all proceeds going directly to the American Red Cross.

Maudore Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V:MAO) reported the highest drilling intercept ever obtained on the Comtois property, along with several other new high-grade gold assays and more broad near surface intervals from ongoing exploration and definition drilling on the property, located north of Val-d’Or, Quebec, Canada.

Thunder Mountain entered into an agreement with Newmont to advance the company’s Trout Creek project in Nevada. The agreement allows Thunder Mountain to conduct exploration activities on Newmont’s land around the company’s Trout Creek claims.

Emgold Mining provides the following update on its Idaho-Maryland Project ("Project"), located in Grass Valley, California. In follow up to the Company's March 7, 2011 press release, Emgold, through its 100 percent owned subsidiary Idaho-Maryland Mining Corporation ("IMMC"), has commenced the filing process for its 2011 Revised Permit Application with the City of Grass Valley ("City"). The City is the Lead Agency and responsible for completing the Environmental Impact Report ("EIR") for the Idaho-Maryland Project, as part of the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") process.

TD Securities Head of Commodity Strategy, Bart Melek Monday predicted "gold will trade materially above the $1,500/oz mark sometime in the second half of 2011." "Despite recent strength and record prices, TDS analysis points to more upside for gold into 2011," Melek advised.

As the extent and depth of its low-grade gold project Cerro Maricunga grows, so follows Atacama Pacific Gold's (TSX-V: ATM) shareprice. Since the start of the year the latter has climbed from around $3 a share to just over $5 as Atacama released a slew of drill intercepts outlining three, semi-contiguous areas of gold mineralization at Cerro Maricunga, 100-km northeast of Copiapo, Chile

Russia's biggest gold miner Polyus Gold (PLZL.MM: Quote), KazakhGold KZJq.L and the Assaubayev family have settled all legal claims brought against the Assaubayevs, all parties said on Monday.

Egypt has lifted a ban on the export of gold due to increasing economic and political stability, the government said in a statement on Saturday. The government decided on Feb. 27 to ban exports of gold until June 30 -- a decision which the statement issued on Saturday said was aimed at "guarding Egyptian national security and to stop smuggling of the country's wealth abroad".