Gold eases in cautious trade

Gold and precious metals: today’s top 10 news

• Gold for February delivery settled 0.3% lower at $1,613.60 a troy ounce on the NYME Wednesday as traders weighed the impact of the European Central Bank's liquidity injection
• Petra Diamonds has sold 4.8 carat blue stone for $1.45 million, or $300,000 a carat – the highest price per carat of any rough diamond it has ever sold
• Silver Mines says recent test indicates its Webbs silver project in New South Wales may be amenable to cyanide extraction which offers potential for production of silver doré
• Eloro Resources has completed acquisition of Louvicourt Township Gold Property near Val d’Or in Québec
• A feasibility study for the Ajax copper-gold project in British Columbia - a joint venture between KGHM and Abacus Mining - estimates capital costs at $795 million
• IAMGOLD Corp has entered into a pact with the Suriname government to expand the company’s Rosebel Gold Mine, which produced 395,000 ounces of gold in 2010 
• Hecla Mining expects to resume production at its Lucky Friday silver mine in Idaho by February-end; it estimates 2011 silver production to exceed 9 million ounces
• New Gold Inc, created in 2008 by combining three gold companies, plans to more than double annual production to at least 1 million ounces in six years
• Shanta Gold is on track to begin production from New Luika in Tanzania by the end of the first quarter next year as it announced it has secured a $5 million bridging loan
• Shares in Petra Diamonds began trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange Wednesday following the company’s decision to migrate from the AIM exchange