Gold

The destruction of Mongolia's grasslands to access a wealth of mineral riches has sparked an anti-mining movement led by a nomadic herder who says force can be used to bring polluting firms to heel. Tsetsegee Munkhbayar is the head of Fire Nation, a small group on a crusade to put an end to what they say are irresponsible mining operations in the resource-rich landlocked country that are threatening their livelihoods.

After an initial 5% jump, shares in Arabian American Development Co was flat at midday on Wednesday on four times usual volumes following news of a $37m injection into the Texas-based company's Saudi mine by a fund controlled by the League of Arab States. Shareholders in the 44-year old Nasdaq-listed company saw the value of their investment rise a cool $107m as a result of the transaction. The gold, silver and copper mine in a Yemen border province is the only non-government mine in the Saudi kingdom and is scheduled to begin production early next year.

Reuters reports Zimbabwe could take over mines that fall short of laws requiring them to sell majority stakes to locals by September, a government minister said on Wednesday. Mineral-rich Zimbabwe has the world's second largest known platinum reserves after neighbouring South Africa and foreign miners working there include Zimplats Holdings, a unit of Impala Platinum, global mining giant Rio Tinto, and Anglo Platinum.

The newest Fair Trade standard, gold and associated precious metals, made its debut a little more than a year ago. It promises to improve social and environmental conditions for millions of small and artisanal gold miners around the world.

IPO activity in Western Australia continued to increase post the global financial crisis (GFC), according to new figures released from the Deloitte Corporate Finance survey. Western Australia produced 63 IPOs in the year ending 30 June 2011 (FY11), almost double the 33 IPOs in the previous financial year.

Late last month Ivanhoe Mines received $502 million from Rio Tinto following Rio’s decision to exercise all remaining share-purchase warrants that it holds in Ivanhoe Mines. Assembly of open pit equipment has started - in this case Komatsu dozers. Image of the Oyu Tolgoi complex by Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

A treasure of gold, jewelry and diamonds worth over $24 billion by some estimates has been unearthed from the vaults of a temple in India. Image is from YouTube news report on the same story.

Canada's biggest precious metals stocks were up an average 5.5% in late afternoon trade on Tuesday led by Endeavour Silver and Silvercorp Metals which both added around 12%. First Majestic Silver was up 9% and Silver Wheaton 6%. The index with an average market capitalization of US$7.7bn was outperforming a lacklustre broader market with bellwethers Barrick and Goldcorp also making substantial gains. Weak economic news from Europe, lingering concerns about the Greek debt crisis and media reports that China may raise interest rates have lured investors back to precious metals.

Canadian gold explorer Romarco Minerals, which has been pioneering the possible re-opening of South Carolina as the potential location for a significant gold mining area, has received something of a setback in a U.S. Corp of Engineers requirement that it submit an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a portion of what the company describes as "the low-functioning and impaired wetlands and streams onsite" at its exciting Haile gold mining project there. Image of the Haile gold mining area, by Romarco Minerals.