Gold

The World Gold Council unveiled today the long-awaited “exposure draft” of the so-called conflict-free gold standard, which aims to crack down on gold tainted by conflict and human rights violations, such as the ongoing supply coming from the rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"They need to clearly indicate to the market what their strategy around Olympic Dam is, around shale gas, all of these things, to return confidence that they're not spending huge amounts of capex for very low returns."

A proposal for a large underground copper mine in Minnesota reached a milestone last week.

The investment bank argues that gold is not a good long-term investment, but offers a compelling medium term trade.

AuRico Gold pulled the trigger on its Australian operations on Tuesday, selling the Stawell and Fosterville mines to Crocodile Gold Corp for up to $105 million.

Gold prices will remain high this year, but are unlikely to rise above the record high reached in 2011, says the latest report by U.S.-based mining consultants CPM Group.

The two largest gold companies are bracing for a Canadian court's decision on who owns the massive El Morro copper-gold deposit in Chile.

A Canadian company operating a silver mine in Mexico says it is not in any way linked to the recent murder of an anti-mining activist as alleged by human rights activists.

Tailings are materials produced from mining such as milled rock and effluents. In many cases, massive quantities of these materials, regarded as waste, are left from previous operations. Given the potential health and environmental risks associated with tailings, they could be viewed as problems or project deterrents, but then again, they could be viewed as a source of cash.