Ghana to stop handing out gold exploration permits

Pimps man the park across from the historic Ulan Bator Hotel, popular with foreigners. They are keeping an eye on their employees -- about 20 women working in Mongolia's quickly expanding sex trade. Image by Tomascastelazo

China's gold output in the first five months of 2011 totalled 132.02 tonnes, up 3.67 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on its website on Tuesday.

Workers at US company Freeport McMoRan's giant gold and copper mine in Indonesia's Papua region agreed on Monday to end a strike that has lasted more than a week. Workers at US company Freeport McMoRan's giant gold and copper mine in Indonesia's Papua

Stillwater Mining, the only platinum and palladium producer in the U.S., announced on Monday that it will acquire Peregrine Metals for US$487.1 million. Peregrine Metals is a publicly-traded exploration and development company with gold and copper projects in Argentina and Peru. The company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The world's largest copper producer is shut down in a 24-hour strike that has the potential to cause severe losses for Chile's state mining company. Codelco says it could lose $41 million from today's strike

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures gained Monday on continuing concerns about Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis and as investors eschewed investments considered riskier, such as U.S. stocks. Gold for August delivery added $13.20, or 0.9%, to

Chronic labour shortages in resource-rich Western Australia could put mining projects at risk, as the state struggles to plug a shortfall of skilled workers set to balloon to 150,000 by 2017.

Recruiters in Western Australia are seeing a steady flow of people heading into the state in search of lucrative jobs in the mining industry, but they need to be realistic about the salaries they can receive and the training they need, Perth Now reports.

Recruitment agencies told The Sunday Times that highly skilled positions, such as heavy diesel fitters, drillers and boilermakers, were in shortest supply and workers with experience in most areas of the resources industry were highly sought after. Hays regional director Simon Winfield said people often thought they could get jobs on mines without any qualifications and were "misguided" about salaries.

Reuters reports that nickel went untraded today, but still managed to fall as copper, aluminum and zinc also fell.