Frik Els , Editor

Gold futures lost over $16 early on Monday after US lawmakers and the Obama administration reached an 11th-hour agreement on raising the federal debt ceiling, but quickly pared the losses after data showed manufacturing activity at its lowest level in two years in the US and shrinking factory output in China. December gold initially retreated from the record settlement of $1,631.20 an ounce on Friday, trading as low as $1,608.20 before jumping back to within striking distance of record levels at the same time New York stock markets suffered a 200-point reversal, turning triple digit gains into a sharp sell-off spooked by the economic data.

In late morning trade shares in Miraflores-based Portage Resources had gained more than 12% after announcing a 10:1 future stock split that would, after cancellation of some of the shares held by its CEO, bring the total number in issue to a whopping 4.45 billion. When MINING.com reported on Portage Resources a fortnight ago the counter had gone from 2c to 65c a share in the matter of three months. The explorer has been snapping up properties in Peru hitting pay-dirt with reserves of 58 million ounces of silver at one of them. Portage is a prime example of how volatile stocks in juniors miner can be: its 52-week high is $1.24 and despite Monday's 12% jump to 32c, the stock is worth half of what it was just five trading days ago.

Toronto-listed Scorpio Mining Corp reported a quarterly profit helped by production ramp-up at its Nuestra Señora mine in Mexico, but missed market estimates compiled by Reuters, sending its shares to close just under 4% down. Vancouver-based Scorpio reported a net income of C$3.3 million and strong cash flow from operating activities in Q2 2011 of $11,9 million as recovered silver equivalent ounces reached 1,548,174, an increase of 79% from 2010 and contained metals produced in concentrates jumped 92% to of 734,558 ounces.

The Zimbabwe Independent quotes finance minister Tendai Biti (pictured) on Friday as saying the reality of Zimbabwe's situation is that there is no connection between Zimbabwe’s income from diamonds, its output and international prices adding the country's resources are in danger of turning into curse rather than a blessing. Zimbabwe exported 716 958,50 carats from its alluvial diamond mines but only $103,9 million of diamond export shipments was accounted for in the first half of the year. The military seized control of the rich diamond fields in Chiadzwa in 2006 and most observers believe an international ban on these gems are being widely flouted.

Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe Finance Ministers said on Friday the re-opening of the Shabani Mine is a critical imperative for the economy calling it is a tragedy that nearby town of Zvishavane is increasingly becoming a ghost town, with upstream and downstream industries which depend on asbestos mining having collapsed. Biti was presenting his mid-term fiscal review where he predicted the country's mining sector as a whole growing by 34%, buoyed by firming international mineral prices, improved power supply arrangements and output growth.

Lundin Mining Corporation reported on Friday net income of $57.7 million for the second quarter of 2011, up 36% from the same quarter last year. The numbers were below management expectations after lower than expected metal production and higher unit costs at its flagship Neves-Corvo copper mine in Portugal north of the city of Faro (pictured). Lundin said the Tenke Fungurume mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, its first venture beyond Europe, should start contributing to cash flows in the third quarter.

Madagascar has given French oil major Total a one-year extension of an exploration licence for the Bemolanga block shared with Madagascar Oil and expanded it to include conventional oil, a senior official told Reuters on Thursday. Madagascar Oil and Total announced earlier this month that it is scuttling plans to develop a 1.2bn barrel oil sand deposit on the island after three years of extensive work. The Bemolanga bitumen deposit was first drilled in the late 1800s and would have cost upwards of $8bn to bring into operation.

Wales Online reports mining at the historic Tower Colliery in Wales could begin again as soon as Christmas after a £30m scheme to regenerate the site was given the green light by councillors of the nearby town of Rhondda Cynon Taf earlier in the week. Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously worked pit coal mine in the United Kingdom at the time of its closure by British Coal in 1994 with a history dating back to at least 1805. It was bought out by the laid off miners and re-opened the next year before finally shutting down in 2008.

Balkan Insight reports that thirty miners have fasted for the last three days in a gallery 1,400m below the surface and 260m below sea level inside the chromium mine in the town Bulqiza, Albania. The hunger strike is an escalation of a three-week shutdown, as roughly 700 miners press Albanian Chrome, the largest employer in the country, to meet their requests of a 20% wage hike. The Bulqiza chromium deposit has been continuously mined since 1948. The Balkan state has the lowest GDP per capita in Europe.

December gold futures traded at a record $1,633 on Friday morning before pulling back to the $1,625 level by early afternoon lifted by 11th hour political wrangling about the US debt plan, news that Great Recession in that country was deeper than previously thought and the Euro debt crisis spreading to Spain. Silver tracked gold with September contracts adding 48 cents, or 1.2%, to trade at $40.28 an ounce early on before slipping back to below $40 by early afternoon. The S&P 500 was poised to drop for a third straight month, the longest slump since 2008.