Gold futures rebounded on Monday from last week’s decline, with the COMEX December 2011 contract settling higher by $13.90, or 0.9%, at $1,650.00 per ounce. The yellow metal reached an intra-day high of $1,663.30 per ounce at approximately 8:45am ET, but pared its gains as trading progressed.
Strength in gold futures was accompanied by a broad-based rally in the commodities complex. Gold’s sister precious metal, silver, rose $0.32, or 1.1%, to $31.53 per ounce. Cyclical commodities posted far greater gains, with crude oil climbing 4.4% to $91.27 per barrel and copper surging 7.0% to $3.45 per pound.
Copper and oil received a particularly large boost from a key Chinese manufacturing report. The HSBC “flash” China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 51.1 in October from 49.9 in September. The 50 level separates expansionary from contractionary activity.
Weakness in the U.S. dollar also helped lift commodities, as the euro advanced 0.6% to 1.3933 against the greenback this afternoon.
Crocodile Gold Hits More High-Grade at Crosscourse
Crocodile Gold’s management team believes the Crosscourse deposit is an excellent target on which to concentrate exploration efforts because of its proximity to the Union Reefs mill. It is anticipated that an underground mining center at Crosscourse can be defined and brought into production fairly quickly, supporting the Company's strategy to add low cost, high grade production to the near-term mine plan. Full Crocodile Gold News Release.
- 8.89 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 12.3 meters (m).
- 4.51 g/t gold over 14.08m, including 16.2 g/t gold over 3.8m.
- 13.28 g/t gold over 3.65m.
- 14.83 g/t gold over 2.1m.