Gold

Great Panther Silver Limited has updated its mineral resources at the company's 100%-owned Topia silver-gold-lead-Zinc mine in Durango, Mexico. The 2011 mineral resource estimate, by Vancouver-based Roscoe Postle Associates (RPA), comprises measured & indicated ("M & I") mineral resources of 171,000 tonnes at 864g/t silver, 1.56g/t gold, 7.53% lead and 4.37% zinc (7.44 million silver equivalent ounces), a 36.3% increase over the 2009 resource estimate.

Big Blue gold project (Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS) + Marmota Energy Limited (ASX: MEU) earning 70%) Marmota Energy Limited (ASX: MEU) is pleased to announce drill testing of the Big Blue gold project in Nevada has commenced ahead of schedule. On the

Russian firms produced 7.53 tonnes of gold in January, 12.4 percent more than in January of 2010, the Gold Industrialists' Union industry lobby said on Saturday. The union expects gold production by Russia -- the world's No. 5 producer -- to rebound to 205-207 tonnes this year after it fell 1.4 percent last year to 201.3 tonnes.

A landslide Saturday near Freeport McMorran's Grasberg mine left thousands of workers stranded, but was not expected to impact operations at the world's largest copper mine, a company spokesperson told Reuters: A weekend landslide buried a key road access tunnel to Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia, leaving thousands of workers stranded, but a company spokesman said operations were continuing as normal. Freeport is the world's largest publicly traded copper miner, while Grasberg has the world's largest recoverable reserves of copper and the largest gold reserves.

Responding to rising metals prices and more stable markets, most mining companies increased exploration budgets in 2010. The result was a 45% increase in estimated worldwide nonferrous metals exploration spending over 2009. Regionally, Latin America (led by Mexico, Peru, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina) was the top exploration destination in 2010-a position it has held for the better part of two decades-while Canada was the top country overall. Gold was the leading target, attracting more than half the global exploration budget total, with copper a distant second.

New Gold had their best year in 2010, with increased production and declining costs resulting in record earnings and cash flow, the B.C.-based company said on Friday. Consolidated revenue for the year was $530 million compared to $324 million in 2009, which the company attributed to higher production rates and elevated gold prices. Earnings from mine operations jumped 129% to USD$203 million, compared to $89 million in the previous year.

Lake Shore Gold Corp. (TSX:LSG) announced results from six drill holes (3,035 metres) from the 730 Level at the Thunder Creek Project with four holes (1,060 metres) being collared underground and two holes (1,975 metres) on surface. The holes are part of a continuing drill program to define the overall geometry and grade of the Porphyry and Rusk Zones near the 730 elevation in order to complete an initial National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate. The Thunder Creek project is within the company's Timmins West Gold Complex near Timmins, Ontario.

Start-up of the mill is now planned following completion of service repairs that were initiated in last fall. Underground development material has been stockpiled at the surface for mill feed. By the end of February, a total of 11,866 tonnes (13,080 tons) of material was stockpiled at an estimated average grade of 12.5 grams per tonne (0.365 oz/ton) gold. The total to date of the stockpile plus the underground broken inventory currently stands at 20,500 tonnes (22,678 tons) at an estimated average grade of 12.4 grams per tonne (0.363 oz/ton) gold.

Astur Gold, based in Vancouver, is exploring for gold in northern Spain. The company’s Salave property is located a few kilometres from the village of Tapia on the Spanish coast. The company has released its preliminary economic assessment. Astur Gold CEO Cary Pinkowski talks about the study: