GOLD

Gold mining giant Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. is increasing the cash portion of a takeover offer for Grayd Resource Corp., another gold miner, which hold assets in Mexico.

Miners at Freeport Indonesia will end a month-long industrial action and blockades at the world's second-biggest copper mine if the firm scraps sanctions against striking workers and considers a five-fold pay hike, the union said on Thursday.

African Barrick Gold Plc said its profit rose to a record in the third quarter boosted by higher production and all-time high gold prices.

Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk said on Thursday that its third-quarter output rose 65 percent, beating most forecasts, and that it was confident of meeting its full-year target of 600,000 ounces.

Gold mining stocks plummeted Wednesday even though the price of the metal slipped only a bit and the broader market, as measured by the S&P 500, declined modestly.

The United States pushed through its toughest measures yet to curtail speculation in commodity markets in a tight vote on Tuesday, likely shifting the focus of a fierce four-year debate from the regulators to the courts.

If Taseko Mines presses ahead with a plan to build a mine on aboriginal lands in British Columbia it could harm the Canadian province's plans to expand the mining sector, a native leader said on Wednesday.

Aquarius Platinum Ltd. said Wednesday it resumed production at a mine in South Africa that had been briefly closed due to a strike.

Gold eased on Wednesday as growing hopes of a resolution to the Eurozone debt crisis persuaded investors to shrug off a downgrade to Spain's credit rating and buy riskier assets such as equities.

Agnico-Eagle is indefinitely suspending operations at its Goldex mine in Val d'Or, Quebec, because of water inflow and ground instability, the company said on Wednesday, sending its shares sharply lower.

Asia's gold buyers trimmed purchases as prices rebounded, but demand is expected to stay firm as India approaches key festivals next week, underpinning sentiment in the precious metal.

Endeavour Silver Corp. acquired an option to purchase the Lomas Bayas silver-gold property in the Copiapo region of northern Chile for an undisclosed price.

Falling copper prices and labor strife at some mines cut Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s third-quarter results by 11 percent.

Tanzania plans to raise royalty payments on exports of gold by the end of this year as it seeks to restructure the mining sector, Minerals and Energy Minister William Ngeleja said Wednesday.

Carpathian Gold Inc. has suspended construction of a Brazilian project over environmental concerns and, as a result of the suspension, amended a recent stock offering.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. suspended operations at its Goldex mine in Val d'Or, Quebec, Canada, over concerns about flooding in the mine and will write down its investment in the project by an after-tax amount of $170 million.

Gold could fall below $1,500 an ounce in the near term, as bullion has underperformed other assets and appears to have lost its safe-haven appeal, CitiFX said on Tuesday.

Gold prices held steady on Wednesday, shrugging off the downgrade of Spain's sovereign credit rating, as investors wait for clarity on Europe's plans to tackle the debt crisis at this weekend's European Union summit.

The United States pushed through its toughest measures yet to curtail speculation in commodity markets in a tight vote on Tuesday, likely shifting the focus of a fierce four-year debate from the regulators to the courts.

Gold was set for its largest one-day fall in two weeks on Tuesday after U.S. bank Goldman Sachs reported a quarterly loss, which coupled with evidence of slowing Chinese growth and mounting Eurozone concerns, lifted the dollar.

Newmont Mining Corp. halted work at its giant Yanacocha gold mine on Monday after protesters blocked an access road and torched eight pieces of earth-moving equipment, prompting the company to ask Peru's government to intervene.

ETF Securities said on Tuesday the amount of metal it held to back its Physical Platinum exchange traded commodity fell 10 percent in the week to Aug. 24.

Scorpio Mining Corp. said Tuesday that third-quarter production of silver and other metals from its Nuestra Señora operation in Mexico rose 13 percent over the year-earlier level.

Canada-based Eastern Platinum Ltd. said Tuesday production from its flagship Crocodile River mine in South Africa fell nearly a third due mainly to the consequences of labor disputes earlier this year.

Kazakhstan, the second-largest ex-Soviet economy and oil producer after Russia, has enough reserves to weather a new wave of financial crisis and keep its currency stable, the National Bank governor told Reuters Insider TV.

Voters in a sparsely populated district of rural Alaska have narrowly passed a ballot initiative that could block development of the controversial Pebble Mine, local officials said late Monday.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold is considering shutting down its strike-hit Grasberg mine as one of several contingency plans if security does not improve, as it struggles with one of the worst labor disruptions in Indonesia's mining industry.

Gold demand in India, the world's largest bullion buyer, will be strong in the October-December quarter, a traditional time for festivals and weddings, despite high inflation that eats into savings and multiple growth-choking central bank rates hikes.

Gold reserve levels at the world's central banks are holding steady, the World Gold Council reported Monday.