AngloGold to Boost Exploration, Gold Treasure Returned to Greece

REUTER

The price of gold in Sydney fell 80c to USD$665.65 a fine ounce yesterday, The Australian reports. Lihir Gold (ASXHG) gained 3c to AUD$3.24, Newmont (ASX:NEM) rose 5c to AUD$5.35, while Newcrest (ASX:NCM) lost 4c to $23.51.

Reuters reports that AngloGold Ashanti (ASX:AGG), the world’s third-largest gold producer, plans to raise exploration spending by about 60% this year to diversify from its home base of South Africa. The company will spend USD$160 million on exploration, of which USD$86 million will go to drilling at its Tropicana project in Australia and exploration in the Congo, Colombia, China, Laos and Russia.

The Australian Government says it has ongoing concerns about any mining activity being carried out along Papua New Guinea’s Kokoda Track, Radio New Zealand International reports. PNG’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Paul Tiensten has assured the Australian Government the gold prospect along the track, Kodu, is only at its exploratory stages and that if any mining activities take place there would be a five-metre buffer zone on both sides of the track. Australian miner Frontier Resources (ASX:FNT) wants to extract USD$1.15 billion worth of gold from the Kodu prospect.

Azom.com reports that scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory are studying how to use gold as part of an ongoing effort to produce efficient and affordable fuel cells. Recently, the scientists discovered that gold atoms can prevent the destruction of platinum during chemical reactions that take place in fuel cells.

Gold jewellery and other accessories valued at over Rp 2.3 billion have been confiscated by the Customs and Excise Office at Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport from six passengers between February 23 and March 10, fibre2fashion.com reports. During this period, officials found a handbag containing 110 sets of undeclared gold jewellery set with diamonds, imported jewellery concealed in two laptop bags, 17 gold necklaces and bracelets and 96 other pieces of gold jewellery.

BBC News reports that the Macedonian wreath, a floral crown made from gold foil that dates back to the fourth century B.C., has been returned to Athens following a 10-year campaign to prove it had been taken out of the country illegally.

Greek officials said they hoped the Getty Museum’s decision to return the wreath would convince Britain to return the frieze known as the Elgin, or Parthenon, Marbles, believed stolen in 1801.