Gold futures slid Thursday amid modestly encouraging signs over the European sovereign debt crisis and U.S. debt ceiling deadline.
COMEX gold futures, per the August contract, held near $1,600 this morning but turned south this afternoon. The yellow metal closed lower on the COMEX by $9.90, or 0.6%, at $1,587.00 per ounce.
Silver futures for September delivery fell $0.61, or 1.5%, to $38.95 per ounce.
Weakness in precious metals was fueled by reports that the U.S. policymakers made progress on the debt ceiling negotiations, as well as headlines that euro zone officials were considering expanding the scope of the rescue fund to provide additional assistance to Greece and limit contagion from spreading to other members of the PIIGS.
Alacer Reports High-Grade Results at Çöpler
Alacer Gold (ASR.TSX) announced ongoing results from the 2011 exploration program at its Çöpler Gold Project, located in the eastern part of central Turkey. The company reported that new drilling has identified significant thick high grade sulfide mineralization from outside the recently released resource upgrade. Results included 117m at 2.0 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 69m at 3.0g/t and 78.8m at 2.8g/t, illustrating that the new drill program is successfully meeting the objectives of growing the resource base and mine life at Çöpler. Read the Full Press Release.
* Results indicated the discovery of a significant new ore position at the south end of Main Zone.
* Multiple new intersections are expected to add substantial ounces to the current Çöpler sulfide resource.
* A significant infill drill program has commenced on the Main Zone as part of the Çöpler sulfide feasibility study.
