GOLD

Hecla Mining Co. backed its full-year production outlook on Monday despite the suspension of work at its Lucky Friday silver mine in Idaho, where a contractor died in an accident last week.

Silvercorp Metals Inc said it will buy China's SX Gold Mining Company for about $22.75 million.

India gold futures, which traded flat on Monday, are likely to fall this week in tandem with equities, and as traders book profits from last week's peak. Silver may fall 2.5 percent to their lowest level.

Gold prices fell Monday as technical factors and increased demand for the U.S. dollar outweighed otherwise bullish forces.

Gold fell by more than one percent on Monday, swept lower by a firm dollar and falls in other financial markets as worries deepened about government debt in Europe and the U.S.

Gold traded steady on Monday after its biggest weekly loss since September, as investors remained cautious even after Spain's center-right opposition won a landslide victory in the election and is expected to launch drastic austerity measures.

World Gold Council's third-quarter demand report showed central bank buying going far above most analysts estimates. Analysis shows the mystery buyers to be China or India.

Wall Street stocks were set to bounce back on Friday after Europe's debt crisis drove heavy market losses this week, with the S&P 500 falling through important technical levels and possibly facing another key test of strength.

Yamana Gold said it has started production at its Mercedes mine in Mexico and it expects to start commercial production in the second quarter of 2012.

Gold inched up on Friday helped by a weaker dollar and some bargain-hunting but was still on track for its largest weekly loss since September as euro zone debt contagion worries spooked investors.

The nugget, which was found in Russia's Irkindan gold deposit located in the Khabarovsk region, weighs 7 kg 655 g with. The nugget resembles a boxing glove and is of 914th pureness without admixtures.

Gold plunged three percent Thursday after ratings agency Fitch warned U.S. banks are dangerously exposed to contagion from the spreading Eurozone sovereign debt crisis.

Disappointing figures from South African firms such as Impala Platinum and investment bank Investec put a dampener on stock prices, dragging the blue-chip top-40 index nearly 1 percent lower on Thursday.

Gold fell to a one week low on Thursday as fears that the euro zone debt crisis could spread from peripheral to core economies kept investors nervous and prompted some to liquidate profitable positions to cover losses in other asset classes.

Gold prices fell Thursday as contagion from Europe's sovereign debt crisis began engulfing the continent's once-mighty economies.

Gold demand climbed six percent this summer to an all-time high in dollar value as rising investment demand offset falling jewelry sales, the World Gold Council said Thursday.

Growing investor demand for silver will help boost its price above $50 per ounce by the end of next year, a top official at Thomson Reuters GFMS said Wednesday.

Striking union workers at Freeport Indonesia's giant Grasberg copper mine are sticking to pay demands for $7.50 an hour, a wage request deemed excessive by the U.S. miner's chief executive.

As winter draws in across Canada's northern Yukon territory, big mining companies are prospecting for bargains among the army of junior explorers staking claims in what's shaping up as the region's second big gold rush.

Gold prices fell for the third day in a row Wednesday as grim news from Europe offset mildly encouraging economic news from the U.S.

Gold extended an earlier slide on Wednesday in its largest one-day fall this month as the escalating euro zone debt crisis kept the euro near one-month lows against the dollar, making it more attractive to non-U.S. investors to sell bullion.

Shares of Novagold rose 13.4 percent on Wednesday morning after the mining exploration company said it is exploring a possible sale of its 50 percent stake in the big Galore Creek copper/gold project in northwestern British Columbia.

Ghana will increase its corporate tax rate for mining companies to 35 percent from 25 percent, and will collect a 10 percent windfall profit tax from miners, according to a text of the 2012 budget delivered to parliament on Wednesday.

Striking union workers at Freeport Indonesia's giant Grasberg copper mine are sticking to pay demands for $7.50 an hour, pouring cold water on government claims that they are nearing a deal to resolve the country's longest-running mining dispute.

Newmont Mining Corp's Indonesian unit said output was unaffected at its copper and gold mine even though 400 workers had gone on strike in a dispute over working shifts.

Pakistan's Baluchistan province has rejected a mining lease application from Chilean copper producer Antofagasta and Canada's Barrick Gold , raising questions over the future of their Reko Diq copper-gold project.

China's Shandong Gold Group, the parent of Shandong Gold Mining and a big gold producer, has made a $1 billion offer to acquire Brazil's Jaguar Mining, two sources close to the deal told Reuters on Wednesday.

Latin American gold production should increase more than 10 percent this year, Metals Economics Group said Wednesday.

Gold prices regained some early losses Wednesday after the European Central Bank intervened in the bond market to cap dangerously high yields on Italian, Spanish and French bonds.