Gold

Two of the 33 Chilean miners trapped during 69 days underground in 2010 are back in the mining world, after over a year of vain efforts to find a job, reports local online news site SoyCopiapo.cl.

Wild price swings caused by a volatile rupee sapped Indian buying interest in gold in the fourth quarter of 2011, with imports well short of expectations and no pick up expected this year, dropping it behind China for the first time.

As a means of compensating for lost oil revenues following secession of South Sudan, Sudan has exported some $400 million worth of gold already this year.

Peruvians in the northern region of Cajamarca are not giving up easily in their fight over Newmont Mining's proposed Conga copper-gold mine.

Talks between the Ecuadorian government and Kinross Gold have stalled over the country's largest mine, Fruta del Norte.

Hecla Mining reported the largest resource calculation in company history today with 148 million ounces of silver reserves and 281 million ounces of resources. The silver numbers represented a 4% increase in reserves and a 13% bump in resources. Hecla also noted a 33% increase in gold resources to 597,600 ounces, while lead and zinc increased a respective 21% and 26%.

Canadian gold producer Agnico-Eagle Mines reported a $604 million loss in the fourth quarter after writing down its Meadowbank mine in Nunavut, northern Canada.

Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX), the world’s biggest gold miner, announced that profit slipped in the fourth quarter as the company booked US$153-million in various after-tax charges tied to redundant power assets and its investment portfolio.

Kinross Gold (TSX:K) lost $2.78 billion in the fourth quarter, having been forced to writedown the value of its Tasiast project in Africa.