Spot gold and U.S. gold futures rose 1 percent on Friday after German approval of a stronger bailout fund to counter the euro zone debt crisis.

A recent journal article says that coal-fired power is harming the US economy more than it is helping it. The article in the American Economic Review, titled “Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy,” essentially states that coal plants are responsible for a quarter of gross external damages (GED) to the US economy, measured in terms of sickness and death caused by major pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Country risk is one of the most important factors in mining, and a new study ranks Australia as the seventh best place to mine in terms of risk. Topping the list was Finland, which got a low score of 7, followed by Chile (9.7), Burkina Fasso (11), Botswana and Sweden (11.3), U.S. (11.4), Brazil (11.9), Canada (12.4) and Argentina (13.1).

One shouldn't compare pears and squares but there is no better indication that coloured diamonds are spearheading record auction prices than news that a yellow weighing slightly less than the 33-carat flawless D-colour Liz Taylor wore every day, is expected to fetch three time as much as the Hollywood legend's gem when it goes on sale next month.

Low levels of zinc and copper are associated with miscarriages in pregnant women, Digital Journal reports. Scientists at the University of Granada compared data from two groups of women — with one half having suffered miscarriages and the other half who had normal pregnancies — and found that lower levels of zinc and copper in the women who had miscarriages, suggesting a deficiency of one or both elements could be involved.

Is it possible to get lithium without actually mining it? Martin LaMonica in his "Green Tech" blog explains how. LaMonica reports that Simbol Materials has started a plant in California that is able to extract metals from the discharge brine of geothermal plants:

Selwyn Resources Ltd. ("Selwyn") (TSX VENTURE:SWN) is pleased to announce additional drill results from the XY West deposit at Selwyn Project, Yukon.

The price of the most abundant rare-earths are set to extend their decline from records this year as Japanese manufacturers, including Toyota the world’s top REE consumer, switch to recycled materials or eliminate the need for REEs altogether. Prices of certain elements such as cerium used to polish TV screens and lenses are already down 40% after months of break-neck price hikes while lanthanum which finds its way into nickel-metal hydride batteries has shown similar declines. However, the price of some REEs such as samarium used in jet fighter electrical systems are showing no signs of decline despite increasing 25-fold in just three years.

Russian mining group Severstal plans to boost production of coking coal and expects iron ore mines in Liberia and Brazil to come online by 2017, the company said Thursday in a presentation to investors in London. CEO Vadim Larin predicted the price of both materials used in steelmaking will remain high and forecasts limited supply growth as current market turmoil delays new projects, Platts reported: