Gold

Bloomberg reports gold may decline for a second day in New York as speculation that Greece’s debt crisis is closer to being resolved curbs demand for precious metals. The market news is quoted as saying, Palladium for September delivery was little changed at $781.50 an ounce. Platinum for July delivery was 0.2 percent lower at $1,830.80 an ounce.

Osisko Mining official inaugurated the Canadian Malartic gold mine, a large-scale open pit mine located in Malartic, Abitibi. Canadian Malartic is Osisko's first mine to go into production. Osisko estimates it will extract more than 9 million ounces of gold at Canadian Malartic from now until 2027. The mine currently employs 465 people.

Peru's President Alan Garcia Perez and the Ministry of Energy and Mines have suspended mining concessions in several of the nation's provinces for the next 12 months. The President of the Council of Ministers Rosario Fernandez Figueroa said a multi-sectoral commission has been appointed to study and propose reforms regarding mining concessions.

Canadian mining giant Goldcorp Inc. has been recognized by Nasdaq as one of the Top 100 companies in the world for its sustainability practices. The Index is an equity-weighed index made up of 100 companies that lead in measuring and reporting their carbon footprint, energy usage, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste generation, workforce initiatives and community investment.

Monument Mining made $15 million in gross revenues in the first three months of 2011, having sold 10,704 ounces of gold at an average price of $1404/oz. The Vancouver-based gold explorer, which owns two gold properties in Malaysia, said it is on target to exceed 40,000 ounces of gold this year, the company's first year of commercial production. Image by Monument Mining Limited

Iberian Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:IZN) today announced that it has determined to exercise its right to purchase from Trafigura Beheer B.V. its 45.96% net profit interest in Compania Minera Condestable S.A. ("Condestable"), which is the subsidiary through which Iberian holds its approximately 98.73% interest in the Condestable Mine. In accordance with the terms of the CMC Purchase Agreement, Iberian retained the option to purchase the NPI from Trafigura at any time until June 30, 2011 in consideration of the payment of US$60,000,000 (the "NPI Buy-out").

Azumah Resources Ltd (ASX: AZM) said today it has secured an 11% stake in Castle Minerals Ltd (ASX: CDT) through a holding of 11.081 million shares. Azumah's managing director Stephen Stone said the company viewed the holding as a strategic investment that would increase Azumah's options should any of the growing market-based speculation about consolidation in the West African gold sector unfold.

Bloomberg reports that China National Gold Group Corp., the state-owned company that controls the nation’s largest gold deposits, wants to invest in projects in Africa as it expects bullion to trade near record levels for the next three years. Gold jumped to a record $1,577.57 an ounce this month, helping make this year among the busiest for gold deals since 2006. Citic Group, China’s biggest state-owned investment company, and partners agreed this month to buy Gold One International for about $469m to gain assets in South Africa.

Capstone Mining announced the result of a National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for the Wildfire/Copper Keel area at the Minto Mine in Yukon, Canada. Wildfire/Copper Keel is now recognized as a southeastwardly extension of the Area 2/118 deposit which is currently being pre-stripped in preparation for mining. The combined Area 2/118/Copper Keel/Wildfire mineral resources are now recognized as a single mineral deposit and will be referred to as the Minto South Deposit ("MSD"). The Copper Keel region of this larger deposit model is still open and exploration drilling is currently in progress with two drills. Image of Minto mine from Capstone Mining.