Acacia Mining Plc is looking to buy gold mines and exploration projects in Senegal, Mali and Ghana to expand in west Africa, Chief Executive Brad Gordon said.
Cuts in copper mine output are raising doubts about the extent of a widely expected global surplus that has driven down prices, and the reduced production could support a market rebound.
Gold edged down on higher shares on Wednesday, but was poised to end 2014 steady around $1,200 an ounce as the impact of a stronger dollar was offset by demand from investors worried about tensions in Russia and political uncertainty in Greece.
A flurry of acquisitions of high-quality coal assets by Japanese firms in recent weeks signals that some trading houses at least are betting a depressed coal market where prices have halved in three years may be bottoming out.
Gold edged lower on Friday as some buyers cashed in recent gains, but the metal remained on track for its biggest weekly rise in two months as the dollar retreated and sliding oil prices hurt risk appetite, weighing on stocks.
South African earthmover manufacturer Bell Equipment announced plans on Wednesday to restructure and shed jobs, as mining industry customers delay spending in the face of falling commodity prices.
Colombia's mining regulator will be able to bring wait times for exploration and production permits back within legal limits in about a year after it has smoothed out the legal tangles that have bogged down its decisions, its chief said on Thursday.
Glencore and X2, a company set up by former Xstrata boss Mick Davis, are among the suitors of the Chilean copper assets put up for sale by global miner Anglo American.
The world's largest mining company has scrapped the sale of Nickel West and will continue operating the unit after failing to find a buyer at the right price.
Gold's rout may be far from over, with many analysts and traders surveyed by Reuters predicting prices could fall to $1,000 per ounce by the end of the year, the first time at that level since 2009.
Mick Davis, the former boss of miner Xstrata, has made an offer for Anglo American assets including copper mines in Chile, Brazilian nickel mines and some coal operations, the Sunday Times reported without citing sources.
