Gold

The tide of deaths of infants and young children from an outbreak of lead poisoning in Zamfara State, in North West Nigeria did not come like a thief in the night. The stage had been set for the tragic incident several years earlier. Increasing activities of illegal miners and improper processing of lead-contaminated gold ore within households in the community, were largely responsible for the high death toll. Image of an artisinal miner holding wolframite is from Julien Harneis. 

REX Minerals has forecast more copper from its Hillside project in SA, releasing a blueprint for a 12-year mine to almost rival Olympic Dam in size. "The conceptual study supports our view that Hillside is one of Australia's largest copper development opportunities," managing director Steven Olsen said.

Newmont Ahafo Mine at Kenyase, in the Asutifi District of the Brong Ahafo Region, has targeted to increase its annual gold production to 1.2 million ounces by the year 2014. The company has spent $22.3 million on its alternative livelihood programmes for 1,700 households and farmers, affected by its mining activities. Picture of traditional leaders supplied by the Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation.

The race to mine the seafloor took another step forward today. Diamond Fields International said it has completed the world's first NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for its Atlantis II sea-floor deposit, located about 115 kilometres from Jeddah in the Red Sea. DFI has been exploring the deposit with joint venture partner Manafa International.

African Barrick Gold reported net income of $120 million, a 21% increase over H1 in 2010. The EPS was 29.3 cents. The EBITDA was $245 million, up 25%, and operational cash flow was $186 million, an increase of 18% on H1 2010. Cash costs for gold climbed 24% to $655 per ounce due to cost inflation and North Mara mine sequencing.

South African gold miners will this week join thousands of workers seeking pay rises in widening nationwide strikes, threatening to hurt exports from Africa's largest economy at a time when bullion is at record highs.

The price of gold was firm above $1,610 Tuesday morning as the U.S. dollar was trading weak amid U.S. debt stalemate. Gold for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, edged down $1.00 to $1,611.20 an ounce.

CDE have announced the addition of Pilot Crushtec to their global distributor network with responsibility for South Africaand sub-SaharanAfrica. Pilot Crushtec will promote the full range of CDE washing equipment including the Evowash sand washing plant, Prograde screens, M2500 mobile washing plant, Rotomax logwashers and Aquacycle thickeners.

Comex gold and silver futures prices closed the day session higher Monday, with August gold powering to another new all-time record high of $1,624.30 an ounce. The precious metal was lifted by the breakdown in debt talks in the US over the weekend and news that ratings agency Moody's has downgraded Greece's debt again saying default is now almost a certainty. December Comex silver also traded up $40.44 after hitting a new 11-week high early on Monday. The gold:silver ratio – the number of ounces of silver needed to buy an ounce of gold: eased back below 40.