British Columbia native land claims continue to conflict with mineral rights

Gold futures hit another record high of $1,898.60/oz on Monday, despite a recovery on global stock markets following one of the most volatile weeks in trading history. The precious metal rose by more than 6% last week, the most since February 2009. So far this year bullion has gained roughly a third in value. Gold's allure as an inflation hedge was boosted by renewed talk that policy-easing initiatives would be unveiled by the US Federal Reserve on Friday at an annual gathering of central bankers. A round of asset purchases that eventually became known as “QE2” were unveiled at the meeting last year.

The Times and Democrat reports in the ancient town of Rosia Montana in Romania (pictured), tensions are running high between supporters and opponents of the proposed gold mine by Canada's Gabriel Resources. Gabriel Resources in its latest financial results showed it has accumulated over $175 million in cash and equivalents to move ahead its Transylvania project in an area where galleries used by Roman miners during the first century still exists. It has been more than a decade since the company first obtained the Rosia Montana concession, believed the be one of the richest in Europe, holding some 10 million ounces of gold and 65 million ounces of silver, and it needs several more endorsements, zoning permissions and reviews before it could start mining.

The Business Standard reports with gold prices setting new record highs every alternate day, jewellery makers are adopting various methods to minimise its use in diamond jewellery without compromising look and feel. While many have increased mechanisation and reduced manufacturing of hand-made jewellery, others are replacing gold’s weight with diamond to keep investors’ interest intact. Another option is using silver with rhodium plating. Ideally, gold content in diamond jewellery should be 35% in terms of its weight. But, many jewellers have reduced gold content massively in the first half of the calendar year to keep the prices down.

In a surprise announcement Papua New Guinea on Friday introduced a plan to hand state ownership of mineral and energy resources to landowners, a move that may prove disastrous to foreign miners developing massive projects and pushing into new regions of the resource-rich country. The announcement by PNG's new leader comes ahead of elections in 2012 that many observers have warned is bound to lead to civil unrest. The move may also derail PNG's economy which is booming with growth this year expected to reach 11%. The mining industry employs roughly 30,000 people and supplies 80% of export earnings.

Despite a relatively stable day for stocks on Wall Street, gold futures continued its upward spiral on Friday trading above 1,850/oz after touching a new record high of $1,881/oz in morning trade. A string of bad news about the US economy including declines in manufacturing activity, higher than expected retail inflation and higher jobless numbers on top of deepening fears about the soundness of Europe's financial system, sent investors scurrying for the safe haven of gold and silver. So far this year gold has gained more than 30% and silver, trading at $42.20/oz on Friday, has soared 40%.

Great Panther escaped the mayhem on the markets and ended Thursday up 3.6% on the TSX after announcing it shipped 100 tonnes of silver-gold pyrite concentrates from its Guanajuato operation to a new buyer in Mexico. Last week the company disappointed the markets with quarterly results that showed a drop in revenues due to the shipping delays and lower silver production as a result of falling grades. The volatile stock is down almost a quarter over the last month.

Gold futures hit a record high of $1,829/oz on Thursday while global stock markets suffered one of the bloodiest days of an already disastrous month with banks and miners bearing the brunt. The losses came after renewed fears about Europe's debt crisis and more bad news about the US economy. In the flight to safe havens, gold and silver were the only gainers. The value of the precious metal is up sevenfold from its August 1999 low of $251/oz shortly before global central banks started limiting bullion sales. Many observers believe that decision was the turning point for gold although it would take almost another decade before breaching the $1,000/oz level.

Impact  Silver Corp.  announced  on Wednesday additional drill results for the planned open pit Capire mine in the 200-square-kilometer Mamatla Mineral District, in central Mexico. Production plans at Capire are to first install a 200-tonne-per-day pilot plant (already purchased) to optimize mining and processing parameters toward planning for a larger operation in the future.

The charitable foundation run by Sprott Assett Management's chief executive, Eric Sprott, announced Wednesday it is selling 2 million units in Sprott Physical Gold Trust and using the money to buy silver. The closed-end mutual fund trust holds 97% of its total net assets in physical gold bullion in London Good Delivery bar form. Eric Sprott is a well known investment manager and gold bug in Canada and personally holds 6,000,000 units of the trust worth about $94 million based on Wednesday's mid-afternoon price of $15.74 .