September 29, 2009: AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU) announced that it is progressing with the development of the Tropicana gold project in Western Australia, a joint venture with Independence Group NL. AU is the operator and has a 70% interest in the project which contains a 5 million ounce gold resource which is expected to produce 420,000 ounces per year for 15 years. The partners are currently working on a feasibility study to determine start-up and operational costs.

 

September 29, 2009: Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) notified Norma Sass property owners Coral Gold Resources Ltd. (2/3 interest) and Levon Resources Ltd. (1/3 interest that ABX will commence exploration drilling on the property in the first week of October. The Norma Sass property is located in Crescent Valley, NV, approximately one mile southwest of ABX's Gold Acres, a former producing open pit gold mine, and two miles west of ABX's currently producing Pipeline mine. ABX will drill two rotary mud holes to test Lower Plate Carlin carbonate sedimentary rocks at an estimated depth of 1,800 to 2,000 feet. ABX is currently earning an interest up to 75% in the Norma Sass under the terms of a September 28, 2008 agreement. ABX may earn a 60% interest by incurring total exploration expenditures of at least $3 million in annual installments by December 2014. ABX may earn an additional 10% (for a 70% aggregate interest) by spending an additional $1.5 million on the property by December 2015. ABX may earn an additional 5% by carrying Coral and Levon through to commercial production. Alternatively, at any time upon earning either a 60% or 70% interest, ABX may be given the option to buy out Coral's and Levon's joint interest by paying $6 million and granting them a 2% net smelter royalty.

 

September 29, 2009: Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) outlined its strategy for 2010. GFI will ramp up development of its South African mines, after the delays arising from safety issues which impacted production, and GFI will advance exploration adjacent to existing operations. Safety issues as a result of fatalities at its operations reduced production by an estimated 400,000 ounces for the year. One of GFI's priorities for 2010 is to finalize a feasibility study on the Athena discovery at St. Ives in Australia by mid-financial year 2010 and to start construction of the underground mine. Development at St. Ives includes the Hamlet target. These two projects could add another 2 million ounces to GFI's resource base and double the mines life. GFI hopes to bring at least one of three advanced-stage exploration projects to a prefeasibility study within the next 12 months. These projects are in Mali, southern Peru, and Kyrgyzstan.

 

September 29, 2009: Kinross Gold Corp. (KGC), Canada's third largest producer of precious metals announced that it expects to increase precious metals production by 57% in the next five years from projects that are currently being evaluated and advanced in South America. Proposed expansions at three producing mines and possible development of three new projects may add about 1.3 million ounces of annual production. The six projects under review include expansions at Maricunga and La Coipa in Chile and Paracuta in Brazil; and three projects under consideration which include Cerro Casale and Lobo-Marte in Chile, and Fruta del Norte in Ecuador.

 

September 29, 2009: Newmont Gold Corp. (NEM) may miss its gold production target by 10% at the Batu Hijau open pit mine on Sumbawa Island, Indonesia.  The mine is operated by PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), local subsidiary of Newmont. The drop in production is a result of a partial slope failure in the west wall of the open pit. The Batu Hijau mine produces gold and a copper concentrate. In an April 2, 2009 press release, NNT's General Manager Leigh Taylor said the company expects to produce 455 million pounds of copper and 485,531 ounces of gold at the mine.

 

September 30, 2009: Harmony Gold Mines Ltd.  (HMY) reported a 4% increase in total gold production for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, compared to the previous quarter. Cash costs rose 9 to 12% in the September quarter as a result of rising wages and electricity tariffs. Capital expenditures during the quarter fell 12% compared to the previous quarter. HMY expects a marginal increase in the next three months.

 

September 30, 2009: Harmony Gold Mines Ltd.  (HMY) is closely scrutinizing its Virginia and Evander operations to cut costs and improve production instead of shutting down unprofitable shafts. The weakness of the rand gold price and rising costs are forcing a review of operations. In the quarter which ended September 30, the Virginia operations in the Free State province were the only section of the South African underground operations that ran at a loss, with a negative 3% contribution to profits. The Virginia operation is HMY's largest source of gold. Evander is also undergoing review.

 

October 1, 2009: Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) reported that its gold production and cash costs for its first quarter of 2010, which ended September 30, will be in line with its forecast of 906,000 ounces. Production from its South African operations dropped slightly to 527,000 ounces compared with 529,000 ounces achieved in the last quarter of 2009, which ended June 30, 2009. Production at its two largest mines Driefontein (190,000 ounces) and Kloof (161,000 ounces) were impacted by safety stoppages in the first quarter of 2010. Both should do better in the second quarter. Production at Beatrix increased by 8% to 111,000 ounces, while production at South Deep jumped by 25% to 65,000 ounces. South Deep continues to build up towards its 2010 production target of 300,000 ounces. Production in West Africa increased marginally to 226,000 ounces, compared to 218,000 ounces achieved in the last quarter of 2009. Australia/Asia production decreased marginally to 146,000 ounces compared to 154,000 ounces in the last quarter of 2009.

 

October 1, 2009: Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) announced its first gold pour from its Boddington gold project, south of Perth. NEM expects gold production from Boddington in its first five years to reach 1,000,000 ounces annually with cash costs expected to be about $300 per ounce. NEM expects exploration at Boddington to increase the mines current gold reserves of 20.1 million ounces which will support a 24 year mine-life at current rates.

 

October 1, 2009: Yamana Gold Inc. (AUY) inaugurated its Gualcamyo gold mine in San Juan, Argentina. The mine is expected to produce 120,000 ounces of gold this year and is expected to increase as the main QDD open pit deposit ramps up and production begins from two other main deposits. The mine has 1,200 employs, including contract workers. The mine has proven and probable reserves of 12.8 million ounces of gold supporting a 13 year mine life. The mine also has total measured and indicated resources of 3.5 million ounces.

 

October 5, 2009: Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. (CDE) announced that it is pursuing an expansion of mining at its Rochester silver and gold mine in Nevada. The planned expansion is expected to add an average of 2.9 million ounces of silver annually, and 30,000 additional ounces of gold production through 2017. CDE has completed an internal scoping study that shows the expansion will have a $34 million net present value based on a $16/ounce silver price and a $950/ounce gold price and a 10% discount rate. A new leach pad would have to be constructed in 2010 at an estimated cost of $28 million, leading to an estimated net cash flow of $20 million. This cash flow and production is incremental to the ounces and cash flow currently being generated by ongoing residual leaching activities which should continue through 2014.

 

October 1, 2009: Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) reported that it plans to spend $8.5 billion rand to develop its South Deep mine in South Africa by 2014. The mine is on track to produce 300,000 ounces of gold this financial year, which started in July, and will ramp up to between 750,000 and 800,000 ounces of gold by 2014.  The South Deep has gold reserves of 29.5 million ounces and 78.4 million ounces of gold resources.

 

October 5, 2009: AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU) announced that protestors have caused minor disruptions at its Siguirni mine in Guinea by blocking workers from entering the site. Villagers close to the project located in West Africa are demanding that the company supply them with electricity.

 

October 5, 2009: AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU) announced that it has formed a joint venture with De Beers to explore for gold and other minerals on the ocean seafloor. AngloGold and De Beers will establish a jointly-owned technical company (Techco), which they intend to develop into a fully-functional marine exploration and mining services company. De Beers Marine, a wholly-owned subsidiary of De Beers has developed expertise and proprietary technology in relation to exploration and mining of marine deposits on the continental shelf. AngloGold will fund Techco through the completion of an initial exploration period of at least three consecutive sampling seasons, or until AngloGold has funded a total amounting to $40 million.

 

October 5, 2009: Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) reported a sevenfold increase in its uranium resources to 77-million pounds, which includes a sharp 11-million pound increase resulting from an accelerated drilling program on 13 of the company's contained tailings sites. Surface materials from the West Wilts tailings site accounts for 51.4-million pounds, and the West Wilts underground tailings accounts for 26.6 million pounds. The cutoff grade for the uranium resource was $75/lb. and the underground uranium resource was based on the gold life-of-mine design and scheduling. The West Wilts tailing project is viewed as a low-grade gold and uranium reclamation project which would produce sulfuric acid as an important additional resource.

 

October 5, 2009: Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) reported that its attributable gold resources increased 8% to 271.1 million ounces at the end of June 2009, compared to 250.6 million ounces for the year ended June 2008. Attributable gold reserves, including copper converted to gold equivalent ounces amounted to 81.1 million ounces as of June 30, 2009. This reserve compares to 82.8 million ounces for the year ended June 30, 2008. All of these reserve number are net of 12 months of depletion. GFI also reported that six of nine mines have a reserve of 5 million ounces or greater, and six of their mines have a mine life in excess of 10 years.

 

October 6, 2009: AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU) plans to increase its output as a result of its exploration strategy. AU's CEO Mark Cutifani, in an interview with Reuters said that the dollar price of gold would rise, but a strong rand was eroding gains. Cutifani forecast that gold would trade in a range of $950 to $1,100 an ounce in the next year. Electricity costs and new wage settlements have put pressure on the company's bottom line. AU expects to expand production from the 4.98 million ounces produced in 2008 to approximately 6.0 million ounces within 5 to 7 years. AU reports costs above $500 per ounce in the completed quarter, but long term costs will average about $450 an ounce.

 

October 7, 2009: Yamana Gold Corp. (AUY) reported that its third quarter production increased 9% above production in the previous quarter, while costs remained in line with expectations. AUY produced 314,200 gold-equivalent ounces in the quarter, which includes ounces of silver converted to ounces of gold. Higher output was driven by production at the El Penon mine in Chile, which reported higher metal prices, and the Gualcamayo mine in Argentina, which reached commercial production. Cash costs for AUY's core mines were in line with its forecast range for the year of $345 to $375 per ounce. Costs at Gualcamayo were below $350 an ounce, well below the forecast cost of $450 an ounce. AUY operates mines in Mexico, Honduras, and throughout South America. AUY expects to produce 1.1 million ounces in 2009.