National Strategic and Critical Minerals Act Wins US House Committee Approval
Source: Dorothy Kosich, Mineweb  (5/17/12)
"The U.S. Department of Energy identified the 7–10 year period to obtain mining permits in the U.S. as compared to the average 1–2 years in Australia as one of the principal barriers to new U.S. mining ventures." More >

Precious Metals Market Manipulation?
Source: Doug Casey, Casey Research  (5/17/12)
"I'm not at all disinclined to believe tales of manipulation of markets by the state; I expect it, and as a speculator I relish it. But I like to see evidence for everything. And extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." More >

How Gold Demand Remains Resilient
Source: Frank Holmes, U.S. Global Investors  (5/17/12)
"Demand for gold was relatively resilient in the first quarter of 2012, with global demand falling 5% on a year-over-year basis, says the World Gold Council." More >

Major Long-Term Bottoms Forming in Gold and Commodities
Source: Toby Connor, Gold Scents  (5/17/12)
"I think the 30-point rally in gold Thursday is signaling that gold has put in its yearly cycle bottom." More >

Buyout Options Gaining a Foothold
Source: Alex Philippidis, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News  (5/17/12)
"Deals involving buyout rights have two features that make them attractive to smaller partners: up-front payments and a longer-term path to liquidity for their investors." More >

'Waterless' Fracking: Using LPG for Greater Oil & Gas Recovery
Source: Keith Schaefer, Oil & Gas Investments Bulletin  (5/17/12)
"GasFrac is unique in the global fracking industry in that it uses no water, and there is now a growing database that shows its Liquid Propane Gas technology dramatically improves overall oil and gas well recovery." More >

Finding Opportunity in Silver, the Devil's Metal: Chris Thompson
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Gold Report   (5/16/12)
Silver has been called the most volatile of metals. But volatility produces opportunity, according to Chris Thompson, a top-ranked StarMine analyst with Haywood Securities. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Thompson forecasts a strong year-end for the devil's metal, despite price weakness so far in Q2/12, and shares the names of a select group of companies that stand to profit. More >

Recovery Via Shared Sacrifice: Lacy Hunt
Source: Karen Roche of The Gold Report  (5/16/12)
If the people and politicians of the U.S. can't muster the will to reform Social Security and Medicare, the country will slide on down toward what internationally renowned economist Lacy Hunt calls the "bang point." What we'd face on the other side would be bad news indeed. But in this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Hunt goes on to list a few steps to turn the tide on economic growth. The route won't be an easy one but it would address the debt and begin to improve living standards. More >

Liquidation of 'Crowded' Gold Trade Pauses
Source: Adrian Ash, BullionVault  (5/16/12)
"'Market participants have given up waiting for a bounce,' says a Singapore dealer. 'The market will do what it needs to do to clean out the weakly margined before it becomes healthy once again.'" More >

The Bear Facts of the Bullion Market
Source: John Nadler, Resource Investor  (5/16/12)
"This time around, despite all the denials of the fact and protestations to the contrary, the gold market entered the cave of the bear." More >

Is the Resource Boom Over? A Resounding No!
Source: Lawrence Williams, Mineweb  (5/16/12)
"Adrian Day argues that China's growth is bullish for copper in particular, China's consumption having quadrupled in the past 15 years." More >

Australia's Mining Sector Grows at Staggering 12% a Year
Source: IB Times, Vittorio Hernandez  (5/16/12)
"Australia's mining sector continues to gallop, while the rest of the economy trails behind." More >

Gold Recovers from 4-1/2-Month Low as Euro Firms
Source: Reuters, Amanda Cooper  (5/16/12)
"Gold recovered from its lowest since late December on Wednesday, edging back into positive territory as U.S. stocks opened higher after speculation Germany and France will act to keep Greece in the Eurozone lifted the euro into the black." More >

Biotech Stock ETFs: How to Ride the Surge in Mergers & Acquisitions
Source: Don Miller, Money Morning  (5/16/12)
"Investing in biotech stocks requires not only an understanding of the company's finances, but also knowledge of the company's potential based on its products and technologies. You can reduce some of the guesswork by using exchange-traded funds, which give you exposure without betting the farm on a single company." More >

Japanese Power-Cut Alert Sparks Fears of Nuclear Comeback
Source: Irish Times.com, David McNeill  (5/16/12)
"Millions of Japanese homes are bracing for a long, hot summer after Japan's government warned a shortage of electricity generation could lead to mandatory power cuts." More >

British Columbia Adopts Regulation Promoting Use of Natural Gas Vehicles
Source: Rodney White, Platts  (5/16/12)
"The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Regulation permits a utility to spend up to CA$62M on vehicle and ferry incentives, up to CA$12M on compressed natural gas fueling stations and up to CA$30.5M on liquefied natural gas stations, for a total CA$104.5M, the ministry said in a statement." More >

The Rare Earths Industry Is Only Just Beginning: Jon Hykawy
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Critical Metals Report  (5/15/12)
Is the rare earths space an industry in decline, a bubble popped? Not so, according to Jon Hykawy, head of global research and a clean technologies analyst at Byron Capital Markets. Hykawy tells The Critical Metals Report in this exclusive interview that establishing a supply outside of China could breathe new life into this exiled market. While the winners in the industry may be as rare as the elements they mine, Hykawy believes that the financial community is going to have to revisit rare earths once companies start to produce meaningful cash flows. More >

What Lies Ahead for Junior E&Ps: Bruce Edgelow
Source: The Energy Report Editors  (5/15/12)
The landscape of the junior oil and gas industry has changed significantly over the last five years. What will the playing field look like five years from now? These are the questions that ATB Financial's Bruce Edgelow will discuss at his upcoming SEPAC Oil & Gas Investor Showcase keynote address, but in this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Edgelow gives us a sneak preview. Read on as Edgelow examines which industry trends are likely to continue, and what it will take for juniors to attract investment capital in an increasingly competitive market. The only constant investors can expect, Edgelow argues, is change. More >

Oil-Rich Canada Looks to China for Growth
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Chip Cummins and Alistair Macdonald  (5/15/12)
"Chinese investors have beat out U.S. investors in Canada's oil patch every year since 2009, pumping $12.8B into companies and projects since then. British Columbia and the federal government have embarked on a massive push, spending billions of dollars, to retool the country's infrastructure to facilitate more trade with Asia" More >

Have Silver Prices Bottomed Yet?
Source: Bob Kirtley, SK Options Trading  (5/15/12)
"The drop below $30.00/oz that we have alluded to has now happened. We see this as being at or close to a possible buying opportunity." More >

Stakeholders Share Data to Design Better Trials for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Source: Patricia F. Dimond, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News   (5/15/12)
"The Coalition Against Major Diseases is an industrial consortia of companies willing to share precompetitive knowledge and work in support of projects identified as high priority by the FDA and in the interest of public health." More >

Bob Moriarty: A Contrarian's Guide to Volatile Markets
Source: Sally Lowder of The Gold Report   (5/14/12)
Trotting the globe in his unrelenting quest for investing opportunities, Bob Moriarty had just completed a 21,000-mile travel-a-thon when he picked up the phone for this exclusive interview with The Gold Report. He liked a lot of what he saw, found plenty of bargains along the way and is willing to name names. Ever the contrarian, he is picking up stocks when everyone else is dumping them; he plans to cash in when the mass of sellers morphs into a mass of buyers and drives prices up. More >

IMF to Buy Gold Worth $2.3B
Source: CommodityOnline  (5/14/12)
"The IMF is planning to purchase more than $2B worth of gold on account of rising global risks. The IMF currently holds around 2,800 tons of gold." More >

Bull Market in Gold 'Not Over' But Speculators Turn Bearish
Source: Adrian Ash, BullionVault  (5/14/12)
"The price of gold and gold futures dropped yet again Monday morning, recording the seventh drop in nine trading days in May so far as industrial commodities, global stock markets and the euro currency all sank amid Athens' failure to negotiate a new coalition government." More >

Johnson Matthey: Palladium Market Deficit Expected for 2012
Source: Kitco, Allen Sykora  (5/14/12)
"The global palladium market swung from a deficit to an oversupply situation last year largely due to net disinvestment, but is expected to return to a deficit in 2012, said Johnson Matthey in its 'Platinum 2012' report issued Monday." More >