59 bodies recovered from Tibet gold mine: report

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Reuters  – APR 2, 2013

Beijing: Rescue teams have found 59 dead bodies at the site of a massive landslide in Tibet and two dozen more workers are still feared buried in the rubble, Chinese state media said on Tuesday.

Tonnes of rock, mud and debris engulfed a miners’ camp on Friday in Maizhokunggar County where China Gold International Resources Corp Ltd operates its Jiama mine.

Emergency workers and other miners spent the weekend digging through the landslide which was up to 50 metres deep in parts… >>MORE(NDTV.com)

 

Goldminers Find Lustre Fading on ‘big is best’

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Liezel Hill brisbanetimes.com.au March 23, 2013

Acquisitions were once the name of the game, but now the miners are looking to spin off their assets to unlock better value, writes Liezel Hill.

The world’s 10 biggest gold companies led by Barrick Gold spent more than $US100 billion in the past 20 years buying new mines and projects around the globe. Now they’re feeling pressure to throw the strategy into reverse.

Gold Fields spun off most of its South African assets in February. Billionaire hedge-fund investor John Paulson is calling for a break-up of AngloGold Ashanti. Barrick, which has 27 mines, is selling assets after an acquisition and cost overruns helped erase $US26 billion of the Canadian company’s market value.

An index of 14 large goldminers has lost 26 per cent in the past year, worse than the 7.1 per cent drop in a similar gauge of global oil companies. The gold industry, which underperformed the metal for five of the past seven years, has tried to stop the slide by ending gold-price hedges, raising dividends, building new mines and, most recently, pledging spending discipline. Spinning off or selling assets may be its next option.

”The next fad is going to be the unbundling of the majors,” >>MORE (brisbanetimes.com.au)

 

Gold still at people’s fingertips in the Klondike

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Travelers to Yukon still enamored with fascinating history of gold rush
 By Lynn Martel, For the Calgary Herald March 14, 2013

At first glance, the wooden stake erected in the nondescript patch of dirt does not appear to be particularly remarkable in any way. But, if a wooden stake could tell its story, the original claim post at Bonanza Creek, where the first pieces of gold that ignited the Yukon Territory’s Klondike Gold Rush were discovered, would surely tell a whopper.

Planted in the ground on Aug. 17, 1896, today the Discovery Claim National Historic Site preserves the spot on Bonanza Creek, 15 kilometres from its confluence with the Klondike River, where George Carmack and his fishing buddies, Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie established the first of their four claims…MORE (Calgary Herald.com)
Panning for gold at gold Bottom Mine
Photo: Government of Yukon/Fritz Mueller
SEE A GALLERY OF GOLD-PANNING TOURISTS IN THE YUKON

‘Bering Sea Gold’ loses one of its own

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by Mandi Bierly ew.com Mar 15 2013

The title of tonight’s episode of Discovery’s Bering Sea Gold is “Gold Stress,” the term those who dredge the bottom of the Bering Sea for treasure use to describe what they feel when they’re coming up empty. As the show’s executive producer David Pritikin describes it, it’s a high stakes world with all alpha characters chasing a wish-fulfillment dream in the seas near Nome, Alaska, where life itself isn’t easy. That’s never been more clear than in this hour, which, as you can see in the clip below, takes a tragic turn when deckhand John Bunce, lovingly remembered here, takes his own life.

“Without knowing deep into John’s psyche or the problems that he may have been having, Nome is a depressing place at times for some because it’s cold, it’s harsh, it’s difficult,” Pritikin says. “[Bunce’s best friend] Zeke Tenhoff did mention earlier and throughout the series that John lives his life in extremes, which many of the people do in Nome and on the show. One of his demons, Zeke mentioned, was alcohol.”

Cameras were not with Bunce at the time, and in the aftermath, which will be shown next week, the crew — from Deadliest Catch producer Thom Beers’ Original Productions — didn’t film anyone who didn’t want to be filmed and waited for those closest to him, Zeke and Emily Riedel, to be ready to talk. “This is real life, and it took all the wind out of their sails. Their motivation was gone. They were angry at first. It was a very difficult time,” Pritikin says. Watch the exclusive clip below…>>More + clip (ew.com)