Business Report writes: The eight-month moratorium on granting prospecting licences is expected to be lifted on Monday with the unveiling of an online application system expected to ensure transparency and reduce turnaround times.

Exploration Orbite VSPA has discovered the presence of high-value byproducts such as scandium, gallium and other important rare earth elements in its Grande-Vallée deposit in the Gaspé region of Quebec, all of which offer strong economic potential for the company and for Canada, the company believes.

Cutting some hefty gold intercepts, Revolution Resources is following in the footsteps of Romarco Minerals and its multi-million ounce Haile gold mine in the Carolina Slate Belt. Image by Revolution Resources

Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) poured its first gold at the Canadian Malartic open-pit gold mine in Quebec on Wednesday, April 13, 2011. The act ushered in not only one of Canada's newest miners, but one of its largest, with production at Malartic planned to hit 600,000 ounces gold a year, over a 12-year mine life.

Reuters reports: Canadian gold miner Northgate Minerals Corp expects production at its Young-Davidson mine in Northern Ontario to start in late first quarter of 2012.

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of the Big Daddy chromite deposit in northern Ontario is recommending that the project advance to the feasibility stage. The PEA was commissioned by Montreal-based KWG Resources, which owns a 28% interest and a 1% net smelter royalty (NSR) in the deposit, located in the remote James Bay lowlands of northern Ontario. The company also has NSRs on the adjacent Black Thor and Black Label chromite deposits, and has the option to increase its interest in Big Daddy to 30%.

Professor Fathi Habashi, EduMine author and Professor Emeritus at Laval University, is bringing back interest in extractive metallurgy with his Comprehensive Extractive Metallurgical Workshop - "an important international learning platform where the latest advances in the field are shared amongst the participants both formally and informally."

GFMS says that investment demand will continue to drive gold higher, and analysts at the firm would not be surprised to see gold break through $1,600 before the end of the year. The findings were published in GFMS's Gold Survey 2011 that were released today. "Investors continue to be concerned about the outlook for inflation, with governments in general showing little appetite to tighten monetary policy significantly," says Philip Klapwijk, chairman at GFMS, in a news release.

Each year, Dr Murenbeeld chooses this event to present his views and forecasts for gold for the year ahead, and over the years he has proved to be one of the most accurate forecasters out there - but with three scenarios - cautious, middle and optimistic - he usually comes close with one or more of these - but he does give weighted likelihoods for each of his prediction scenarios.