Gold futures settled lower for the fourth consecutive trading session on Tuesday amid widespread weakness in precious and industrial metals.
COMEX gold for February 2012 delivery – the most actively-traded contract – finished with a loss of $10.50, or 0.7%, at $1,595.50 per ounce. The yellow metal reached an intra-day low of $1,591.10 earlier this afternoon, before paring its losses.
Silver futures settled in the red as well, with the COMEX February 2012 contract down $0.34, or 1.2%, at $28.74 per ounce. Copper also finished in negative territory, by $0.06, or 1.7%, at $3.41 per pound.
The sell-off in gold and other metals came despite modest weakness in the U.S. dollar, which fell 0.2% against a basket of the world’s leading currencies this afternoon.
Platinum Group Metals Moves Forward Toward Production
In August, Platinum Group Metals entered into a mandate letter with a consortium of financial institutions – including Barclays Capital and the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited – for a $260 million project finance loan to enhance the development of the Western Bushveld Joint Venture (WBJV) Project 1 Platinum Mine. Full Platinum Group Metals News Release.
- Preparation of detailed banking documents for the senior loan facility with the mandated syndicate of banks is ongoing
- The completion of this documentation, due diligence, hedging establishment and off take negotiations are expected to be completed during Q1 and Q2 of calendar 2012
- Project 1 is advancing towards a 275,000 ounce per year platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold planned production profile
- Full commercial construction is budgeted at $443 million and initial commercial production is scheduled for late 2013
