Gold

Toronto fund manager, John Oliver, had his head shaved today after wagering four years ago that gold would hit $2,000/oz. Oliver, who works for Sprott Asset Management and said he would get his hair shorn if the prediction didn't pass, made the bet on April 16, 2008 when gold was $920/oz.

The Toronto Star profiles Peel River in the Yukon, a growing sources of contention between miners and environrmentalists

MINING.com counts more than 90 billionaires involved in minerals, metals and mining on the planet with a combined wealth of well over $300 billion.

Mining contributed $50 billion to the country’s GDP in 2011, he said, and provides “well paying” jobs for more than 300,000 Canadians.

BHP's four largest projects – Olympic Dam, the Outer Harbour iron ore infrastructure project in Australia, expansion of its US shale gas operations and Jansen potash in Saskatchewan, Canada – require $120 billion in capex costs, but will only start to contribute to the bottom line by 2023.

A small number of investment professionals around the world are competing behind the scenes to turn the gem into a commodity that would be available to investors in the way that gold has been traded through funds on exchanges.

For metals consultancy Thomson Reuters GFMS’s Paul Walker, looking to hedge from a position of strength would serve miners well when prices do eventually fall.

Hollinger pit project moving forward yet many Timmins people seem unaware.

Gold futures trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange experienced an after-hours selloff on Friday with prices tumbling $20 in a flurry of end-of week liquidation.