GGR comment -Just one of the many potential flashpoints. Tim Kelly and Phil Stewart, Reuters: TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two unarmed U.S. B-52 bombers flew over disputed islands on a training mission in the East China Sea without informing Beijing while Japans main airlines ignored Chinese authorities when their planes passed through a new airspace defense zone on Wednesday. The defiance from Japan and its ally the United States over Chinas new identification rules raises the stakes in a territorial standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the islands and challenges China to make the next move. China published coordinates for an East China Sea

David Franklin, Sprott Group writes: The Federal Reserve has created an economic problem worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy. On the one hand they have worked tirelessly to support the markets and prevent an economic depression while on the other hand, they have also created a problem for which is no clear solution. The bond buying program instituted by the Fed has been similar to casting economic spells over global markets, convincing them that all is well. However, deciphering their next move has been an exercise in reading economic entrails for forward guidance. You can imagine the twelve ‘witches’ of the FOMC mixing a

The Perth Mint’s Bron Suchecki penned a reasoned, even handed response to a public outburst by a blogger. We find it (Sucheckis response) worthy of sharing. For those who have not been a party to the discussion, following the links in the piece below will get you most of the way there. At issue is that the world of gold in the blogosphere is populated with a rather strange collection of people with various levels of credibility. Many of them also have overly large egos, which, at least in my own judgment, are disproportionately sized in inverse proportion to their credibility. My view

HOUSTON -- As we go into the holiday season it seems an appropriate time to take a detached, long-term look at a couple charts. Two charts that are screaming long term opportunity. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index (XAU) is testing the 80s. As the chart shows, that was the nominal level which served as long term technical resistance in the late 1990s and early 2000s (at the end of a 20-year bear market, with gold mostly below $300 the ounce). Then the 80s level became important support in the 2004-2005 period (with gold then sub-$500). (XAU, monthly, since 1999, with gold in

Our good friend Mike Maloney has released the fifth installment of a video series called Hidden Secrets of Money. The setup for this installment reads: Welcome to the 5th episode of Michael Maloney’s Hidden Secrets Of Money. In this instalment, we travel to Berlin and Frankfurt, where we were able to film the money museum inside the Bundesbank…one of the world’s largest Central Banks. This episode serves as an ideal primer for those waking up to the monetary matrix around them, as it clearly shows the history of true money and why it so important to our freedom. The quality of a society

The chart of the AMEX Gold Bugs Index below is pretty much self-explanatory and it sums up our longer term view.

GoldCore’s Mark O’Byrne is interviewed by the SGT Report in this 28 minute video, posted on YouTube November 24. Topics include stop logic halts on the COMEX gold market, obvious attempts to drive the gold price lower in the paper gold market and demand for physical gold in China causing a “paradigm shift” in the global gold market. Despite several annoying advertisements (which usually keep a video off our pages) we deemed the content worthy of sharing, in part due to our respect of OByrne and GoldCore.com. The SGT setup for the video reads: “For the fourth time in the last three months

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Nov. 26, 2013) -GoldQuest Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE:GQC)(FRANKFURT:M1W)(BERLIN:M1W) (GoldQuest or the Company) is pleased to announce the issuance to GoldQuest of the Loma Los Comios concession, adjacent to the Romero Project in the Dominican Republic.

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge writes: Shortly after 1amET this morning, someone with no apparent fiduciary duty to their clients for best execution or any apparent trade allocation expertise decided it was time to dump 1500 contracts into an entirely illiquid gold futures market.The 150,000 ounce notional sell order ($184.5 million), captured graphically by Nanex, sent the price down $10 instaneously, tripped the exchanges circuit breakers and halted the markets trading for 20 seconds(once again). This is now the4th market halt in the past 3 months(and this time on no news whatsoever), as the manipulative monkey-hammerings from who knows whom (BIS?) is becoming increasingly obvious.

Environmental permit, excellent metallurgical resultsand $23.5-million financing highlight recent progress VANCOUVER, B.C. – True Gold Mining Inc. (TSX-V; TGM) (“True Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce financial results for the third quarter ending September 30, 2013 and business highlights to date, including advancements at the Company’s Karma Gold Project (“Karma Project”) in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Vancouver, BC - Bayfield Ventures Corp. (TSX-V:BYV)(OTC Pink:BYVVF) (Frankfurt:B4N) announces further assays results and the completion of its 2013 exploration drill program at the Companys Burns Block gold-silver project, Rainy River district, north-western Ontario. The Burns Block is surrounded by New Golds (TSX: NGD) Rainy River project and adjoins the immediate east of New Golds multi-million ounce ODM17 gold-silver deposit and adjoins the immediate west of New Golds expanding Intrepid gold-silver zone.

Every business day inLondon, five banks meet to set thepriceof gold in a ritual that dates back to 1919. Now, dealers and economists say knowledge gleaned on those calls could give some traders an unfair advantage when buying and selling the precious metal.

For the AP, Dina Cappiello reported: WASHINGTON (AP) - A major U.S. power company has pleaded guilty to killing eagles and other birds at two Wyoming wind farms and agreed to pay $1 million as part of the first enforcement of environmental laws protecting birds against wind energy facilities.

Stockhouse reported: Shares of Pretium Resources Inc. (TSX: T.PVG, Stock Forum) were lower Monday, even after CIBC raised its rating on the stock to outperform from sector perform.

COEUR DALENE, IDAHO--(Marketwired - Nov. 25, 2013) -Timberline Resources Corporation (NYSE MKT:TLR)(TSX VENTURE:TBR)(Timberline or the Company) announced today that advanced development activities are progressing at its Butte Highlands Gold Project, an underground gold mine located south of Butte, Montana. The underground development drifts have been advanced by approximately 550 feet, six core holes have been drilled for exploration and metallurgical purposes, two groundwater monitoring wells have been completed, and a second de-watering well is currently being drilled.