While the Obama Administration extended its emergency ban on new mining claims around the Grand Canyon only until December 20, 2011, statements made by federal officials at a press conference at Mather Point in the Grand Canyon National Park Monday indicate the ban will probably be permanent. Although U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar repeatedly stressed that mining projects currently in the regulatory pipeline remain alive and viable, fears of possible contamination of the Grand Canyon watershed were repeatedly stressed by federal officials speaking during the news conference. Image of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar at the Statue of Liberty is from Wikipedia.

India, the world's top gold importer, may have just turned net exporter over the last couple of months given the high level of exports of gold jewellery, medallions and coins from the country. Export of items of the yellow metal rose to a staggering $1.24 billion during March and April 2011.

Flint Energy Services Ltd. (Flint, the Company) announced today that the Company has signed a letter of intent for a major oil […]

Suncor Energy's Firebag project since the first quarter of this year. Including the new agreement with Canadian oil sands developer MEG Energy, the added backlog for Flint's facility infrastructure segment is about C$300 million.

As yet another confirmation of the ever growing public investment demand for precious metals in China, the Peoples Bank of China has announced it is very substantially increasing its issuance of gold and silver coins this year.

If George Soros' sale of much of his gold holdings was a mistake, it wouldn't be the first time he appears to have misread a major market trend.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is expected to announce this morning at 10 a.m. PDT the Obama Administration's decision regarding the extension of a 1-million acre mining ban around the Grand Canyon for 20 years. In 2009 Salazar ordered a two-year time-out from all new mining claims in the Arizona Strip near the Grand Canyon.

Silver's recent 30 percent tumble presents an opportunity for bargain-hunters to buy shares of mining companies that produce the precious metal. While spot silver has fallen from a record $49.51 to the mid-$30 range, it is still well above last year's price, when it was hovering around $18 an ounce.

After three days without power, Alexco Resources (TSX: AXR) said that electricity is once again flowing and that it had re-started the mill at its Bellekeno silver-lead-zinc mine in the Yukon. Mid this week Alexco had reported there were three downed power poles along a remote section of the main transmission line upon which it depends. While Alexco had back-up generators to keep key safety and environmental systems going, it was forced to shut its mills down.

Power supplies have returned to normal in Chile's northern mining heartland after a power grid failure hit some of the world's biggest copper mines earlier on Sunday, the mining minister said. Chilean Energy and Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told Reuters power supplies were back to "100 percent" and that the impact on production in the top global copper producer was expected to be minimal.

Martiono Hadianto, president director of Newmont Nusa Tenggara, said the gold miner's IPO is not likely to take place this year. NNT's management had planned to hold the IPO during the second half of this year with the long-delayed divestment process completed by mid-April.

The import of gold and silver by India has risen by a whopping 222% between April and May 2011, as compared to a year ago. In the month of May alone, imports were a staggering $9 billion, with gold demand growing 25%. "Even as inflation and a widening trade deficit to $15 billion in May continues to weigh on the minds of Indian investors, the demand for fresh gold has continued to grow."