Gold Seeker Closing Report – Gold Gains & Silver Slumps

	Close	Gain/Loss
Gold	$647.10	+$2.80
Silver	$12.20	-$0.17
XAU	146.51	+1.13%
HUI	340.80	+0.97%
GDM	1090.07	+1.27%
JSE Gold	2964.71	-2.62%
USD	84.75	+0.17
Euro	128.40	-0.47
Yen	86.87	-0.62
Oil	$76.98	+$2.22
10-Year	4.921%	+0.020
T-Bond	109.09375	-0.15625
Dow	11219.38	-0.19%
Nasdaq	2072.50	-0.60%
S&P	1275.77	-0.28%

Gold rose to over $650 in Asia, fell back near unchanged in London, rose back above $650 by late morning New York trade before it again fell off into the close, but it still ended slightly higher on the day. Silver traded in about a 10 cent range on either side of unchanged in Asia, London, and most of trade in New York, but it then fell off right at the close and ended 1.37% lower on the day.

Euro gold rose to about €505, platinum gained $7 to $1,245, palladium remained unchanged at $322, and copper fell slightly to just under $3.60 despite the start of a strike at Chile's Escondida copper mine, the world’s largest.

Gold and silver equities rose about 2% by early afternoon before they fell back off a bit, but they still ended around 1% higher on the day.

Report	For	Reading	Expected	Previous
Consumer Credit	June	$10.3B	$3.7B	$5.9B

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings second quarter Productivity expected at 0.9%. At 2:15PM is the FOMC policy statement which most predict will show a pause in interest rate hikes.

A BP oilfield problem in Alaska unexpectedly took about 400,000 barrels per day off of the market to add to the supply disruptions in Nigeria and Iraq. Escalating violence in the Middle East also helped oil to gain more than $2 on the day.

The U.S. dollar index rose a bit, treasuries fell slightly, and the yield on the 10-year rebounded from 4 month lows ahead of tomorrow’s FOMC policy statement and ahead of this week’s debt auctions.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell on worries over oil, but any losses were limited ahead of tomorrow’s rate decision.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Apple, Martha Stewart, Forbes, AG Edwards, Morgan Stanley, Northwest Airlines, Teledyne and CollaborX, Occidental Petroleum and Plains Exploration, CommScope and Andrew, Amerisource and Kindred, BP, Toyota, and KKR.

“What a week for gold and silver and what a week for the increasingly pathetic Gold Cartel. What strikes me the most is how the new Gestapo chief at the US Treasury, Herr Hank Paulson, is so blatant about his manipulation of the gold price. All subtleties since he took over have been thrown overboard. In years past The Gold Cartel would do its thing in conjunction with a rising dollar, etc., in attempt to mask their intervention. Not anymore. This arrogant fellow couldn’t care less about who sees what they are doing. Probably because he knows the cowardly wimps in the mainstream gold world won’t utter a peep.

Yesterday was beyond ludicrous. The news could not have been more bullish for gold, which was why it rocketed up $8 in the early going. That news was probably the reason for its violent trashing on Thursday ahead of today’s US economic news (gold was battered around $13 before closing $6 and change lower). The Gold Cartel is consistent in this oft-mentioned regard: the more bullish the reason for gold to move higher, the more the cabal smothers the price.” - From Saturday’s Midas report by Bill Murphy of LemetropoleCafe.com

“December Gold closed up 3.5 at 659.5. This was 2.5 up from the low and 4 off the high.

September Silver finished down 0.22 at 12.265, 0.225 off the high and 0.085 up from the low.

While the gold market failed to hold a large portion of the early morning gains it is difficult to make the action Monday a negative development. However, the Dollar managed to forge some moderate gains off its low of the day and that probably served to prompt some profit taking in the gold market. On the other hand, with reports of loud explosions inside Beirut, in the afternoon headlines, we suspect that Middle East tensions were worsening and with crude oil prices also showing gains at times in excess of $2.54 per barrel, it certainly seemed like flight to quality issues and financial uncertainty were every bit as prevalent in the gold market late Monday afternoon, as they were in the morning gold trade. With the Israeli and Lebanese forces ramping up their aggression into a perceived cease fire ahead, it is possible that the coming 24 hours will bring about a possible geopolitical crescendo.

Certainly the silver market was short term overbought from the aggressive action last week and that would seem to explain the sharp setback on Monday. In fact, many traders cited the curse of major headline coverage as the reason for the slide in silver. With the gold market also giving up early gains in the action Monday, it seems like the precious metals were up ended by the recovery in the Dollar or the sagging macro economic view. Some players even suggested that some silver longs were simply banking profits, rather than continue to hold long positions into the FOMC meeting. In fact, some players think that last week's gains factored in on-hold Fed and that those who remain long risk a surprise from the Fed.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from Friday’s report: The LSE subtracted 0.01 tonnes.

Coeur d'Alene’s (CDE) court ruling, earning’s from Harmony (HMY), Randgold (GOLD), and Aurizon (AZK), Newmont’s (NEM) stake in Allstate, copper hedge, and settlement with Peruvian protestors, and Cardero’s (CDY) and AngloGold’s (AU) acquisition of shares in International Tower Hill Limited (ITH.V) were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.

Winners & Losers tracks NYSE and AMEX listed gold and silver mining stocks that trade over $1.

Canyon Resources Corporation Schedules Release of 2nd Quarter Results and Conference Call - "Canyon Resources Corporation, a Colorado-based mining company, today announced that the Company will release financial results for its fiscal 2006 second quarter, ended June 30, 2006, on Wednesday, August 9, 2006. Senior management will hold an earnings call on Thursday, August 10 at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern)." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Gold & Silver Minerals, LLC Signs Joint Venture Agreement With Astrologer Mine Near Silver City, New Mexico - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Tornado Gold Acquires Option for 53 Additional Claims at Jack Creek Property in Elko County - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Enterayon Reports New Assays of 177 g/t of Gold at Horseshoe - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Oregon Resources Corp. Restructures Transaction for Acquisition of Industrial Property - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Northwater Resources, Inc. Announces Assay Results - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Harmony boosted by rocketing gold - "South African gold miner Harmony on Monday reported a 111.1 percent rise in cash operating profit to R645.2-million for the quarter ended June, thanks to the higher gold price. On the revenue side the gold price received for the June quarter improved from R110 399 per kilogram to R131 358/kg. This resulted in the cash operating margin improving from 15.9 percent to 28.5 percent. Gold production decreased by 1.3 percent to 17 243kg quarter on quarter, Harmony said." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

U.S. Antimony Announces Completion of Mexican Antimony Smelter - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Atlas Mining Company Updates on NanoClay and Technologies Inc. Collaborative Agreement - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Federal District Court Denies Defendants' Motion for a New Trial to Reconsider Its Grant of Preliminary Injunction in Favor of Plaintiffs - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Nolan Gold project update - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

S.Africa's Wits Gold launches Level 1 ADR in U.S. - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Gold Canyon Resources Inc.: Grant of Incentive Stock Options - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

DPM 2006 Second Quarter Report: Strong Operational and Financial Results; Permitting Delays Continue In Bulgaria - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Coeur d' Alene Mines and Coeur Alaska Pleased with Court Ruling - "Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation, parent company to Coeur Alaska, Inc., said it was pleased that the U.S. District Court for the State of Alaska has dismissed a suit challenging the company's 404 permit in connection with the Kensington Gold mine. In its ruling, the Court noted that 'The Corps [of Engineers] properly issued the permit to Coeur Alaska.'" More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Barrick Gold Upgraded - "Barrick Gold Corp. got an upgrade Monday from Prudential Equity analyst John C. Tumazos, who cited the gold producer's "noteworthy" exploration activities, as well as a potential acquisition. Tumazos said the Toronto-based company is increasing exploration or stepping up drilling in several sites, including at its 60-percent owned Cortez Hills, Nev., location, and a Dominican Republic deposit." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Newmont considers stake in Allstate - "Global gold miner Newmont Mining Corporation, the major shareholder of Allstate Exploration, wants to see the Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania returned to operation. The mine has been closed since April 25 when a rockfall killed miner Larry Knight and trapped Todd Russell and Brant Webb for 14 days." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Barrick Gold upped at Prudential, exploration activity cited - "Prudential Equity Group upped gold and silver miner Barrick Gold Corp. to neutral weight from underweight and lifted its price target to $28 from $18, citing the growing pace of exploration activity." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Newmont sees earnings lift as copper hedges expire - "Newmont Mining Corp. said on Monday it expects to see a big increase in earnings in 2007 after price caps on hundreds of millions of pounds of copper it mines expire. Newmont said price ceilings on 75-80 percent of the 600 million pounds of copper it mines annually were priced at a maximum of $1.30 a pound -- less than half the prevailing price." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Randgold Resources announces Profit doubled in Q2 - "London and Nasdaq listed gold miner Randgold Resources doubled its year-on-year profit from mining to US$68.8 million in the six months to June with the contribution from its new Loulo mine in Mali boosting attributable production to 224 377 ounces from 133 052 for the comparable half-year in 2005." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Aurizon Reports Second Quarter 2006 Results - "The net loss for the second quarter of 2006 was $11.9 million, or ($0.08) per share, compared to a net loss of $1.3 million from continuing operations, or ($0.01) cent per share, in the same period of 2005. The second quarter loss was adversely impacted by expenditures related to the unsolicited, hostile takeover bid and to non-cash charges associated with unrealized losses on derivative instruments and stock option grants." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

AngloGold Ashanti announces acquisition of shares in International Tower Hill Limited - "As a result of the acquisition of such shares, AngloGold Ashanti now owns approximately 19.99% of the total issued and outstanding shares of ITH. AngloGold Ashanti was not previously a shareholder in ITH. AngloGold Ashanti is not acting jointly or in concert with any other person or company in connection with the acquisition of the securities of ITH." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Cardero Completes $2,240,000 Investment in International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. - "As a result of the acquisition of these securities, Cardero holds an aggregate of 4,000,000 common shares of ITH, representing approximately 13.32% of the issued and outstanding common shares of ITH. Assuming the exercise of the 2,000,000 warrants, Cardero would then hold approximately 18.74% of the then issued common shares (assuming no other warrant or option exercises)." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Newmont Settles With Peruvian Protesters - "About 100 residents were involved in Wednesday's clash with police and employees at the Mineras Yanacocha complex near Combayo about 350 miles north of Lima, Newmont spokesman Randy Engel said. Newmont, one of the world's largest gold producers, owns about 51 percent of Mineras Yanacocha." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

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