Brazilians toil for gold in illegal Amazon mines

(RTTNews) - The UK market is trading higher in afternoon trading Thursday, amid some positive earnings news as well as consolidation in commodities prices.

Gold and silver fell on Thursday, as weak U.S. housing and manufacturing data and uncertainty about the end of the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program dragged down commodities across the board. Gold, which has fallen three out of the last four

On record cash flow La Mancha (TSX: LMA) doubled net earnings in its first quarter to C$7.5 million. La Mancha credited strong gold prices and production for the performance. In the first quarter last year La Mancha produced 21,654 ounces gold, but increased production at La Mancha's Hassai mine in Sudan and Frog's Leg mine in Australia pushed that number up by 50 percent to 32,426 ounces gold.

California-based Casablanca Mining reported first quarter results that consolidated the gains made by the exploration and intellectual property rights company in 2010. Total assets increased to $3.8m and net loss declined to $0.01/share. Construction of Sulfatos Chile Copper Sulfate plant using the company’s patented electrolysis extraction process was continued. Casablanca also said it is in negotiation to acquire further gold mining properties in Chile and has some 43-101 technical reports in progress.

Many investors are calling into question billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros’s commitment to gold. With higher highs no longer a regular occurrence in the gold market, some see Soros’s dumping of gold ETFs as a clear sign that the party is over. But as trading in the first Asian precious metal futures contract opens on Wednesday, bearish investors may want to take a cue from the millions — maybe billions — of investors in India, China, Vietnam and across the region who are pouring money into gold and are willing to pay a premium.

Caledonia Mining increased gold production by 17% and nearly doubled its profit to $5,248,000 compared to $2,815,000 in the fourth quarter 2010. Announcing its Q1 results on Wednesday, the company also said that its average cash cost per ounce of gold produced decreased by 18% to US$648 compared to the fourth quarter 2010. As of March 31, 2011 the company had net cash and cash equivalents of $1,406,000.

Billionaire investor George Soros sold most of his holdings in the bullion-backed SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust (IAU) funds in the first quarter and bought shares of mining companies Goldcorp Inc. and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX), a government filing shows. Soros Fund Management LLC held 49,400 shares of SPDR Gold Trust as of March 31, compared with 4.721 million at the end of the fourth quarter, the filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed.  Flickr image is from the World Economic Forum.

Global mining company Rio Tinto has raised a total of $2 billion bonds in long-term debt bonds, it said on Wednesday. The offer, registered in the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, consisted of $700 million in 5-year notes with a coupon of 2.5 percent, $1 billion in 10-year bonds with a 4.125 percent coupon and $300 million in 30-year bonds paying a 5.2 percent coupon.

Gold producer Jaguar Mining Inc posted a quarterly profit that beat analysts' estimates helped by surging bullion prices, sending its New York-listed shares up almost 7 percent in extended trading. For the January-March quarter adjusted profit was $10.3 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with an adjusted loss of $3.7 million, or 4 cents a share, a year ago.