Kinross Gold boosts position in Mauritania

It’s been a bad week for iron ore, with all indices steeply lower on Friday for a second consecutive day.

A higher South African rand versus the U.S. dollar was to blame for lowering Sibanye Gold's (NYSE:SBGL) net operating profit in the first quarter.

Mid-tier gold producer B2Gold (TSX:BTO) has had an excellent start to the year, producing more gold at lower costs than expected from its four mines in the Phillippines, Namibia and Nicaragua.

The D-colour Type-II diamond is one of the highest-quality stones to come out of the company’s Letšeng mine.

In Asia, trading was halted after prices sank 7.3%, which is the maximum a day allowed by Chinese regulators.

Quarterly revenues were about half of the revenues posted in the year-ago quarter.

Despite producing less gold, Kinross Gold (TSX:K) made more revenue in the first quarter and is proceeding with an aggressive plan that will slash costs and increase production at its Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania.

The top 10 largest mines in the world by value produced are estimated to represent 58% of global production.

Despite the drop in production, the gold miner kept guidance unchanged for its 2017 financial year at 540,000 ounces.