Signet, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry, reported an improved performance for the last quarter of 2020, but will be borrowing $900m as it faces the uncertainty of coronavirus.The company, whose brands include Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared, James Allen, Peoples and Piercing Pagoda, last week closed all its 3,200 stores.It saw same-store sales grow 2.3 per cent overall and 2.9 per...Read More

London-listed Petra Diamonds has, in accordance with what the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy expects from miners during South Africa’s 21-day lockdown period, scaled down its operations.The diamond miner advised on March 27 that it had scaled down operations to operate at a minimum level to maintain the underground block caves.AdvertisementThe company has four operating mines in...Read More

Union bosses are threatening to file a grievance against the owners of Canada's Ekati Diamond Mine after it was closed last week. Calgary-based Dominion Diamond Mines, said the move was aimed at reducing travel to and from the mine's remote location, close to the Arctic Circle and minimizing the spread of coronavirus. But the Union of Northern Workers, which represents some of the 1...Read More

RAPAPORT... Pandora has hired Martino Pessina as chief commercial officer as part of its efforts to restructure the company and implement a turnaround.In the newly created role, Pessina will lead the Danish retailer's 10 new regional groups, and report directly to CEO Alexander Lacik, the company said Tuesday. He will be responsible for commercial operations across the company's more than 100...Read More

Cardinal heading down familiar gold roadSPONSOREDcardinal resourcesSarama right in the middle of big exploration, corporate build-upSPONSOREDsarama resources Exore excels in Cote d'IvoireSPONSOREDexore resourcesThe ESG bar has just been raised... Who will get over it?SPONSOREDstrategia worldwideThe research group said February M&A was worth only US$1.26 billion, 18.4% up on January but 61....Read More

"Tin Cup offers near-term production opportunities and the potential to host high-grade, shallow underground and open pit gold targets ???(C)??'???"???"^$NLR #CSE #Silver #AG #Zinc #PB #Arizona #MedicineSprings #SecretPass #NorthernLightsResources #MomentumStockshttps://t.co/6XNsJd0DDL"Read full newsRead More

"Customer base is declining in commercial areas and neighbourhood businesses are struggling to survive.#FlipNpic has the solution!#Checkitout???(C)Going public end of March 2020!#Geecko #Montreal #Retail #Local #MomentumStockshttps://t.co/9t7NIWGfmu"Read full newsRead More

"Talisker Expands Land Position at Bralorne Gold Project and Appoints Vice President, Exploration and Resource Development https://t.co/once60NafT #Gold $TSK"Read full newsRead More

Over the last few weeks, as stocks have been declining rapidly, gold stocks have been extremely volatile — sometimes moving with the markets and other times moving directly opposite to it. Clearly, investors can’t figure out what’s happening.There’s still plenty of fear in markets, and gold tends to be a safe haven asset. However, up until now, the most in demand asset has...Read More

Rapid test kits for the new coronavirus arrived in Sao Paulo (Image from Vale). The first batch of the 5 million rapid test kits for coronavirus, acquired by Vale, arrived in Brazil on Monday. The shipment of 500 thousand units, coming from China, arrived at Guarulhos International Airport. The remaining 4.5 million units will be delivered by the supplier throughout April.The test kits - produced...Read More

Gold-buyers have a problem...Supplies are drying up. For one thing, mining operations, like many other businesses, are closing due to the Coronavirus.You simply can't have all those people huddled together inside a mine in this day and age.So, South Africa said that it would shut down all but a few necessary mines for at least three weeks. Canadian mines in major jurisdictions like Northern Queb...Read More

First Cobalt (No.24 on PwC's list of juniors) owns the only fully permitted cobalt refinery capable of producing battery grade material in North America. Credit: First Cobalt Corp For the second time, First Cobalt announced that it has produced battery-grade cobalt sulphate, highlighting the ability of the flowsheet at its hydrometallugical refinery to treat different feedstocks.The latest prod...Read More

TMAC's Hope Bay mine. TMAC Resources has released key results from a prefeasibility study completed for its wholly owned Hope Bay property in Nunavut, which includes an operating mine.Last year, Hope Bay produced 139,510 oz. of gold; with release of its fourth quarter operating results in January, the company announced that it initiated a strategic review process to explore alternatives to max...Read More

SKF, a company which offers solutions for the bearing business, has released a compact and cost-effective vibration and temperature sensor, which monitors the condition of rotating parts on heavy machinery. Designed mainly for use as part of a SKF rotating equipment performance (REP) solution, the SKF Enlight Collect IMx-1 enables customers to reduce unplanned downtime as well as maintenance costs...Read More

Cerro del Gallo project. Image by Argonaut Gold. Canadian producers Argonaut Gold and Alio Gold have entered into an agreement for an all-share merger with Argonaut acquiring Alio to create a diversified intermediate company with output of over 235,000 gold-equivalent ounces annually.With a share exchange ratio of 0.67 Argonaut common shares for each Alio common share, Argonaut and Alio share...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 30 that are worth another look.Gerdau has halted price increase attempts in Brazil amid market weakness because of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report by local investment bank Ita?? BBA from Sunday March 29.The Covid-19 pandemic has opened up financing opportunities for metals and mining-focused investment firms. It's...Read More

The Covid-19 pandemic has opened up financing opportunities for metals and mining-focused investment firms. It's also created a problem. The one-two punch demand and supply shock that the virus has created is putting the mining sector under extreme pressure. With banks even more reluctant than before to provide capital to the mining sector amid the tumultuous global financial backdrop, corporates...Read More

The three-month aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange continued its decline at the close of trading on Monday March 30, settling at its lowest level since April 2016, while a steady uptick in lead saw its outright price close at a two-week high. Aluminium's underlying price on the LME closed at $1,530.50 per tonne on Monday afternoon, its lowest level in just under four years, while turnove...Read More

New and existing domestic and offshore institutional investors participated in the two-tranche placement of 694 million shares, which was conducted at 18c per share, a 23.Read More

The company said it was evaluating how to ensure supply of concentrate to its zinc smelters following the loss of volumes from Tara, Europe's largest zinc mine.Canadian bank BMO forecast Tara would produce about 135,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate in 2020, representing 45% of Boliden's total zinc production this year.BMO said the 14-day shutdown would have "relatively limited impact on overall p...Read More