Spot gold in London surged to above $1,230 a troy ounce, surpassing the previous record set in December last year.

Gold prices in euro terms also hit a fresh all-time [...]]]>

Gold prices hit an all-time high as demand surged to the highest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 amid volatile financial markets in Europe.

Spot gold in London surged to above $1,230 a troy ounce, surpassing the previous record set in December last year.

Gold prices in euro terms also hit a fresh all-time high of €969 an ounce in late trading in London on Tuesday, up almost 26 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Traders and coin dealers said buying was exceptionally strong from German and Swiss investors. In Frankfurt, gold sellers said that demand late last week was three to four times normal levels. The spike appears to reflect concerns in Germany about the potential inflationary impact of the European Central Bank’s decision to buy up eurozone government bonds in the wake of the Greek debt crisis.

Michael Kramer, president of Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, a large New York-based coin dealership, said: “The demand has been huge overseas. Most of it is ending up in Germany.” Edel Tully, precious metals strategist at UBS in London, added: “Coin demand is so intense that supply is struggling to match”.

UBS, one of the largest bullion banks, said its gold sales desks in Geneva and Zurich had experienced the greatest demand for coins and small bars since 2008 last Thursday, when markets were shaken by contagion fears in the eurozone.The Austrian Mint has sold 108,000 ounces of Vienna Philharmonic coins in the past two weeks, more than the 89,100 ounces it sold during the first three months of the year.

Kerry Tattersall, marketing director at the Austrian Mint, which sells the popular Vienna Philharmonic bullion coin, said the mint was producing “as fast as we can”.

“It’s quite a spectacular increase in demand.” “We’ve put on a third production shift so we’re producing around the clock,” said Kerry Tattersall, the mint’s marketing director.

Jonathan Spall, a director of commodities at Barclays Capital in London, said gold was likely to hit a “fresh all-time high before the end of the week”. Outside the eurozone, dealers said that demand was also strong in North America.

Holdings in physically backed gold exchange traded funds are at record highs after some ETFs last week experienced their biggest inflows in over a year.

Global investors have been increasingly turning to gold since 2008. Gold traditionally performs well during times of financial distress or in times of US dollar weakness.

Global investors, led by the US, last year bought a record 228.5 tonnes of gold in the form of bullion coins, up from 77.4 tonnes in 2000, according to GFMS, the London-based precious metals consultancy.

Source:  Financial Times

Lode deposits are the targets for the “hardrock” prospector seeking gold [...]]]>

Gold is relatively scarce in the earth, but it occurs in many different kinds of rocks and in many different geological environments. Though scarce, gold is concentrated by geologic processes to form commercial deposits of two principal types: lode (primary) deposits and placer (secondary) deposits.

Lode deposits are the targets for the “hardrock” prospector seeking gold at the site of its deposition from mineralizing solutions. Geologists have proposed various hypotheses to explain the source of solutions from which mineral constituents are precipitated in lode deposits.

One widely accepted hypothesis proposes that many gold deposits, especially those found in volcanic and sedimentary rocks, formed from circulating ground waters driven by heat from bodies of magma (molten rock) intruded into the Earth’s crust within about 2 to 5 miles of the surface. Active geothermal systems, which are exploited in parts of the United States for natural hot water and steam, provide a modern analog for these gold-depositing systems. Most of the water in geothermal systems originates as rainfall, which moves downward through fractures and permeable beds in cooler parts of the crust and is drawn laterally into areas heated by magma, where it is driven upward through fractures. As the water is heated, it dissolves metals from the surrounding rocks. When the heated waters reach cooler rocks at shallower depths, metallic minerals precipitate to form veins or blanket-like ore bodies.

Another hypothesis suggests that gold-bearing solutions may be expelled from magma as it cools, precipitating ore materials as they move into cooler surrounding rocks. This hypothesis is applied particularly to gold deposits located in or near masses of granitic rock, which represent solidified magma.

A third hypothesis is applied mainly to gold-bearing veins in metamorphic rocks that occur in mountain belts at continental margins. In the mountain-building process, sedimentary and volcanic rocks may be deeply buried or thrust under the edge of the continent, where they are subjected to high temperatures and pressures resulting in chemical reactions that change the rocks to new mineral assemblages (metamorphism). This hypothesis suggests that water is expelled from the rocks and migrates upwards, precipitating ore materials as pressures and temperatures decrease. The ore metals are thought to originate from the rocks undergoing active metamorphism.

SOURCE:
USGS: “Gold”

High grade precious metal intercepts at G-9 have been reported in various news releases over the years, most recently in the Company’s December 16, 2009 news [...]]]>

Farallon Mining Ltd. recently announced new high grade gold zones outside the current mineral resource at the G-9 Mine at the Company’s Campo Morado property in Guerrero State, Mexico.

High grade precious metal intercepts at G-9 have been reported in various news releases over the years, most recently in the Company’s December 16, 2009 news release in which an intersection of 13 metres of 20 grams of gold was announced. Since that time, the Company has been actively investigating the geological continuity and stratigraphic location of these intercepts, particularly since underground drilling became a component of the ongoing exploration program at G-9. Farallon commented that it is now apparent that there is a definite geological and stratigraphical correlation to the high grade gold and silver intercepts.

Dick Whittington President and CEO of Farallon, said: “This is an exciting new development for the Company as it shows that the G-9 mine and the Campo Morado District have the potential for high grade precious metal resources as well as the current high grade zinc resources upon which the G-9 mine was built. These resources are incremental to our recently announced mineral resources, and though small in tonnes, are high in precious metals content. Our challenge now is to find more of these high value resources and to define a metallurgical program to maximize their recovery.”

Located to the west of and adjacent to Newstrike Capital Inc.’s Aurea Norte Project in Guerrero State, Mexico, the G-9 mine is a 1,500 tonnes per day, underground, zinc mine with important by-product credits of copper, gold, silver, and lead.

Source: Farallon Mining Ltd.

As 2009 ended, Goldcorp emerged victorious in a takeover battle with Minera Penmont (44 percent owned by Newmont Mining Corporation with the remainder held by Mexican miner Fresnillo Plc.) to acquire Canplats Resources Corp.

The prize was Canplats’ Camino Rojo’s 3,389-square kilometre land position which includes the Represa [...]]]>

As 2009 ended, Goldcorp emerged victorious in a takeover battle with Minera Penmont (44 percent owned by Newmont Mining Corporation with the remainder held by Mexican miner Fresnillo Plc.) to acquire Canplats Resources Corp.

The prize was Canplats’ Camino Rojo’s 3,389-square kilometre land position which includes the Represa Deposit; host to 3.44 million ounces of gold and 60.7 million ounces of silver on a measured and indicated resources basis.

Located in Zacatecas State in Central Mexico, Camino Rojo is approximately 50 kilometres southeast of Goldcorp’s Peñasquito mine.  The Peñasquito mine will be Mexico’s largest open pit mine once it is completed and commissioned in early 2011. As of December 2008, the deposit contained 17.4 million ounces of gold and 1.05 billion ounces of silver. Annual production over the life of mine (estimated 22 years) is expected to ramp up to approximately 500,000 ounces of gold, 30 million ounces of silver and over 400 million pounds of zinc.

By acquiring Canplats, Goldcorp will be able to benefit from strong synergies between Peñasquito and Camino Rojo, in the areas of human resources, infrastructure and stakeholder partnerships. Goldcorp took a similar strategy when it acquired the El Bermejal Gold Deposit in the Guerrero Gold Belt in the State of Guerrero, Mexico. El Bermejal was located only two kilometres south of Goldcorp’s Los Filos gold deposit.  Post acquisition, Goldcorp was able to operate the two open pit mines (Los Filos and El Bermejal) with a common heap leach, wet plant and ancillary facilities. 

Newstrike Capital Inc. has the largest property holding in the Guerrero Gold Belt. In addition to its 81,000 hectares of highly prospective mineral claims in the Guerrero Gold Belt, Newstrike recently entered into an agreement to acquire 21.2% of the Morelos Project from a wholly owned subsidiary company of Goldcorp Inc. The Morelos Project is an advanced stage gold exploration property located in Guerrero Gold Belt, approximately 180 km to the southwest of Mexico City. The Morelos Project consists of a group of seven claims, totaling 29,046 hectares. Gleichen Resources Ltd. has recently become operator of the Morelos Project. 

Renown for their foresight and [...]]]>

The Lundin Group of Companies is the principal shareholder of Newstrike Capital Inc. http://www.thelundingroup.com/s/Home.asp
Internationally recognized as leaders in identifying superior investment opportunities in the natural resource sector, the Lundin group’s endeavors have led the development of several world class mineral deposits and significant gains for shareholders who participated in their ventures.

Renown for their foresight and their ability to identify highly prospective properties The Lundin Group, led by Lukas Lundin, acquired their stake in Newstrike in advance of the recent activity in the Guererro Gold Belt as demonstrated by Gleichen Resource Limited’s proposed acquisition of 78.8% of the Morelos Project from Teck Resources Limited.

The Guererro Gold Belt has an inventory of over 12 million ounces of gold, which continues to increase with ongoing exploration and/or mine development activities. Newstrike today controls an important strategic position of over 81,330 hectares within the within this significant gold camp. Newstrike’s management team was instrumental in the discovery of over eight million of those gold ounces.