The financial winter is nearing

Arguably the richest prize in mining, the Pebble project pits a watershed where up to 40 million salmon spawn each year against copper and gold reserves worth as much as $500 billion according to a new documentary.

A group of armed robbers gained access to the site and escaped with dore bars worth over $2 million.

Equity valuations have so far failed to keep pace with rising bullion prices, but that makes for some outstanding investor opportunities among a few particularly well-positioned juniors that Rick Mills identifies as running ahead of the herd this summer.

Gold and silver junior Eco Oro Minerals said it will to appeal a ruling by a Colombian court that ordered the Ministry of Mines and Energy to take action to “leave without effect resolution 3452", which is the company’s main mining title.

Two employees of India’s Jindal Steel and Power were arrested on Friday and equipment confiscated in Bolivia, after the company abandoned its $2.1 billion El-Mutun iron ore project five days ago.

There is no end on sight to the mining boom in Australia, a country which mineral resources sector value is expected to reach $122.6 billion by 2016, growing at an annual average rate of 4.3%, reveals a study published Saturday.

Making the 2012 Olympic gold medal from pure gold would amount to $22,000 per medal at Friday's closing price of $1,585 an ounce. Event organizers baulked and opted for a mix of silver, a few grams of gold and copper for winning athletes.

FBI raids on the Iowa offices of Peregrine Financial Group have uncovered a trove of special-edition SpongeBob Squarepants silver bullion amongst the effects of the failed futures brokerage.

Bill Murphy, the controversial head of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) alleges that JP Morgan engaged in ongoing silver manipulation, and that the company's suspension of such operations were responsible for a dive in silver prices in January 2011.