I don't believe that the mentioned "African Gold Zimbabwe" is AFG, but the article does demonstrate rapid resurgence of E&P in Zimbabwe:

Mining Giants Plan Massive Diamond Prospecting

The Herald (Harare)

January 22, 2004
Posted to the web January 22, 2004

Harare

MINING giants, De Beers Zimbabwe Prospecting Limited and Circle Three Mining Corporation are proposing a massive diamond prospecting project that will see the two companies prospecting for the mineral in Gweru, Harare, Bulawayo and Kadoma mining districts.

The two mining companies intend to prospect for diamond in areas covering a total of 448 180 hectares.


Another company, African Gold Zimbabwe, has also undertaken to prospect for gold on two areas measuring 120 550 hectares within the Harare and Gweru mining districts.

De Beers Zimbabwe Prospecting Limited, Circle Three Mining Corporation and African Gold Zimbabwe have applied to the Mining Affairs Board for an exclusive prospecting order for 12 areas under the four mining districts.

In the latest issue of the Government gazette, the Mining Affairs Board said De Beers, Circle Three Mining and African Gold Zimbabwe intend to prospect for diamonds and gold over an area of approximately 568 730 hectares from the three areas.

"The applicants intend to prospect for diamond within the areas, which have been reserved against prospecting pending determination of this application.

"Prospecting authority is sought upon registered base mineral blocks within the reservation," read part of the notice.

One of the two diamond prospecting projects to be undertaken by Circle Three Mining measures 65 000 hectares and is bounded by a line commencing on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border approximating five kilometres.

All areas, which have been earmarked for prospecting are within the 15 000 hectares and 65 000 hectares range and are mostly in the traditional mineral bearing areas of the country.

The proposal to prospect for diamond in the country comes at a time when the US$41 million Murowa Diamond Mine has started to operate following the successful relocation of 141 families which were on the mining site.

Mining is one of the sectors which has been depressed over the last five years but some of the players in the industry have said investors should look at non-traditional minerals.

An example that is often given is that of platinum, which is fast becoming the world's most lucrative mineral.

The mining of diamond in Zimbabwe is also fast gaining pace and it is expected that some of the mining projects would create a lot of employment.

Relevant Links

Southern Africa
Mining
Zimbabwe

Excellent volume today and 5*100,000 buys have already been reported. Lines of 100,000 buys have gone through at 13.5 pence.

4*50,000 buys have come through in the last hour, other decent size buying has also come through.

Price quite stable at 13-14.5 pence, up 7.8%.

More good buying coming through.

Do you have any idea when the news is coming out?

He's now selling at 14.75, is the 150 00 a buy? MM's up to old tricks again, delayin share trade publication but this is obviously ticking higher, ridiculous spread again but it seems to me that this time (unlike all the others) the MM's want to push it higher.

Anytime tomorrow or Friday judging by the days when the news has been released in the past.

The 150,000 was a sell but apart from that they have been hardly any sells today. A 250,000 buy, 7*100,000 buys and 6*50,000 buys as well as other decent size buys. The price did spike up to 14.25-15 pence at lunchtime. Presumably MMs had to raise the price to get some stock back.

Market Makers have been paying a premium of 0.5 pence on the online quoted bids. A 0.5 premium is quite a bit suggesting to myself that they are need in some stock and are execting some news soon. The same actions occured last Wednesday and then we had the good news release on the next day.

Price 14.0-15.0 pence now, offering 14.5 pence on the bid with comdirect. Suggesting to me that news is imminent and they are after stock. Worth accumalating before tomorrow.

i tried to buy more on line, but the broker (IMI) didn`t allow me to do it.

Excellent close today at 14.0-15.5 pence. The market makers were paying a 0.5 pence premium for our stock all afternoon. Even towards the close they were quoting a bid price of 14.5 pence to sell when the showing bid price was 14 pence. This bodes very well.

Exciting times ahead.

Hi ckmtang, normally one can buy atleast 50,000 shares online in this stock and more when the MMs are not after stock. Very surprise to hear that you could not buy any. Would be a good option even with any other stock to use the telephone service if you are unable to buy online.

GoodLuck.

Gold near $411 on Greenspan remarks
Copper futures up 3%, edges closer to seven-year high

By Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 2:11 PM ET Feb. 11, 2004


SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Gold futures closed higher Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the Fed could be patient about interest raising rates, sending the U.S. dollar sharply lower.

Gold ends near $411 on Greenspan talk

Greenspan's comments to a House panel also raised the prospects for "sustained robust growth" in the economy, providing the support copper futures needed to move closer to a seven-year high. Key indexes for metals mining shares also rose, reaching their highest levels in a month.

Gold for April delivery climbed to a New York Mercantile Exchange session high of $412.50 an ounce. It closed at $410.70 an ounce, up $3.70 -- its highest closing level since Jan. 28.

Greenspan told lawmakers that the U.S. central bank can be patient when it comes to raising interest rates because inflation remains low. See full story.

The comments sent the euro and the yen higher against the dollar, boosting gold's investment value. See Currencies Report.

At the moment, "gold prices aren't too confident that the U.S. dollar will end its slide anytime soon," said Erik Gebhard, president of Altavest Worldwide Trading.

"The trend in gold remains higher and picking a top in the yellow metal isn't an endeavor for the faint of heart," he said, noting that support for the market lies in the $395 area, with the "next layer of heavy resistance" in the $415 range.

Greenspan will offer the same prepared testimony but face a new round of questions when he returns on Thursday to address the Senate Banking Committee, also at 11 a.m.

Fortune-telling

Peter Grandich, editor of investment publication, The Grandich Letter believes the gold market's strength in the last several months reflected accurate assumptions on the dollar.

"The gold market sense[d] a dramatic change in the United States dollar policy and began rallying long before it became apparent that the [President] Clinton days of openly advocating and taking actions that keep a strong dollar, had disappeared on [President] Bush's watch," he said.

Gold has also found strength from the "long-term assumption that in the end, the U.S. will aggressively reflate and that is really the ultimate selling point on why one should own gold," he said.

Mining equities head higher

In equities, key indexes for metals mining shares rose to their highest level since mid-January on the back of gold's sharp gains.

Tracking the sector as a whole, the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index ($XAU: news, chart, profile) moved 2.3 percent higher at 103.7. The CBOE Gold Index ($GOX: news, chart, profile) was up 2.5 percent at 88.73 and the Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI: news, chart, profile) tacked on 2.3 percent to reach the 237.09 level.

Among the biggest index-component gainers, shares of Coeur d'Alene Mines (CDE: news, chart, profile) climbed were up 29 cents, or 4.4 percent, at $6.66. Shares of Harmony Gold (HMY: news, chart, profile), Placer Dome Gold (PDG: news, chart, profile), and Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold (FCX: news, chart, profile) were all up more than 3 percent.

In the industrial metals sector, Noranda (NRD: news, chart, profile) rose more than 3 percent after the Canadian company reported fourth-quarter results.


http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7BECF91F79%2DEE11%2D436C%2DA69C%2D4A1B5E842265%7D

good news all round really, the position taken by the MM's at the close and delayed trades show that either news is due tomorrow or they are running very short of stock. If news doesn't appear at the open don't be surprised, AFG have a habit of leaving it till later in the day. It is hard to analyse trades because the MM's play games but if the last trade is a sell significantly above the market close price then they rae pretty desperate indeed and if news is out tomorrow, it will probably very good. Good luck to all holders!

News didn't come today though the price held up nicely, only closing down slightly at 13.5-15.0 pence. The RSI was overbought so in the absence of news a 3.3% drop is not bad.

News is due soon so could come anytime.

Some large buys were reported today including a 700,000 buy at 14.5 pence, 450,000 buy at 15 pence and a 425,000 buy at 14.875 pence.

Basic Fundamentals Still in Place

By David Stein, M.Sc., Mining Analyst, Sprott Securities Inc.
The Gold Report
February 12, 2004

www.theaureport.com

The Gold Report talked with Sprott Mining Analyst David Stein to get his thoughts on the latest happenings in the gold market. He calls it a "corrective phase," and believes that the basic fundamentals for a rising gold price are still in place.

Right now, I believe were seeing a correction that actually started in the beginning of December, when equities topped. That tells me they were anticipating this downward move in the price of gold. The HUI index (The Amex Gold BUGS [Basket of Unhedged Gold Stocks] Index) reached its high on December 1st, I believe, and its been trending down ever since in what I would consider a corrective phase. Obviously, the price of gold didnt actually peak at $425 until January 13th. So it is a month and a half later, and now we are seeing the price of gold trending down as well. I think the gold price needed to correct anyway; it was a little overheated.

In making a broad comment on gold equities, we have used the HUI Index, which we believe most closely characterizes the basket of gold stocks that we cover. Over the last three years, the HUI Index has touched down to its 200-day moving average (MA) a number of times during periods of consolidation for the gold sector. Only once in the last three years (February-March 2003) did the HUI Index cross below the 200-day MA for a significant period of time, and we believe that this was due to an exceptional external event, in this case the Iraq conflict. Of course this event turned out to be an exceptional buying opportunity for gold stocks. The other major correction since the beginning of the bull market for gold equities occurred in June 2002, ending a seven-month run that started in November 2001. In this case the correction was succeeded by a fairly lengthy consolidation period that took seven months to reach the same top, and another six months to finally break the same level.

Overall, despite the correction, I think that the basic supply and demand fundamentals have not changed. What is happening specifically today (Jan. 27) is that some people are getting the sense, based on the Fed comments yesterday, that an interest rate hike may be in order before the end of the year.

There are a number of factors that we have outlined in the past that have all contributed to golds rise; including U.S. dollar weakness, supply-demand fundamentals, producer dehedging and safe haven buying in turbulent geo-political times, however, during the past seven to eight months, the decline in the U.S. dollar against the other major worlds currencies has emerged as the primary driver of the gold price. The Bush Administrations struggle to provide stimulus for the U.S. economy appears to be working as planned, but as with all battles, there are casualties and it appears the first casualty has been the U.S. dollar. Historic low interest rates have deflated the currency. Beyond low interest rates, the fiscal policy of the Bush administration and its impact on U.S. government debt is worrying to international investors, highlighted in statements made recently by the IMF. With the U.S. dollar plummeting, many astute investors are looking to gold as a storehouse of wealth in uncertain times.

It is our opinion that the supply/demand story for gold could signify a new trend for gold that could last well into the decade; it may provide some boost to the current market, but more importantly, should support prices well into the future. Our forecast calls for gold breaking $500 per ounce in late 2004, averaging $450 per ounce in 2005 and $400 long term.

(February 12, 2004)

http://www.kitco.com/ind/GoldReport/feb122004.html