Gold and silver futures continued their recent bout of weakness on Wednesday amidst broad-based liquidation on Wall Street.
COMEX gold futures – per the February 2012 contract – settled considerably lower, by $31.40, or 2.0%, at $1,564.10 per ounce. However, the yellow metal extended its slide in electronic trading toward $1,550 per ounce – its lowest level since September 26th of this year. With the decline, gold futures stretched their losing skid to five trading days.
Silver futures fared even worse, as the February 2012 COMEX contract finished with a loss of $1.51, or 5.3%, at $27.23 per ounce. In doing so, silver ended the session at its lowest level on a closing basis since late January of this year.
Precious metals, along with the large majority of the commodities complex, came under heavy selling pressure as the U.S. dollar advanced 0.9% against a composite of foreign currencies this afternoon. The euro retreated 1.0% to 1.2941 as the markets remained nervous on the prospects for tomorrow’s Italian bond auctions, where the debt-strapped nation will attempt to issue up to €8.5 billion in three and ten-year notes.
Mines Mangement Achieves “Significant Milestone” in Third Quarter
- The U.S. Forest Service and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality continued their environmental review of the Montanore Project and the responses to comments received from the public and from the Environmental Protection Agency and issued the Supplemental Draft EIS in late September 2011
- Mines Management continued meetings with federal and state agencies, Montana legislators, local Lincoln County Commissioners, Libby City officials, business leaders and community members and kept them informed of the project status
- Cash and investment position remained strong at $20.5 million as of September 30, 2011
- The Company`s exploration and corporate development team continued to examine and evaluate additional opportunities in North America and Latin America