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

Investtech Analysis:

Neutral (Medium term) - Mar 16, 2004
Has risen 1276% since the bottom on 7 Apr 2003 at 0.63. Has broken through the floor of a rising trend channel. This indicates a slower rising rate at first, or the start of a more horizontal development. RSI is oversold, which indicates a potential short-term reaction up. The stock has support at p 2.00 and resistance at p 15.00. High Risk. The average difference between the highest and lowest price of a moving trading month is 62%.

Negative Candidate (Short term) - Mar 16, 2004
Has risen 473% since the bottom on 31 Oct 2003 at 1.50. Shows a weak development within a falling trend channel. A further negative development is indicated, and there is resistance against the ceiling of the trend channel. RSI is, however, oversold. The stock can still fall further, and we should see an increasing RSI before this is used as a positive signal. The stock has support at p 4.00 and resistance at p 15.00. High Risk. The average difference between the highest and lowest price of a moving trading month is 62%.

Neutral (Long term) - Mar 16, 2004
Has risen 1276% since the bottom on 7 Apr 2003 at 0.63. Has broken the ceiling of the falling trend, which indicates a slower initial falling rate. Has risen strongly since the positive signal from a inverse head and shoulders formation at the break through the resistance at 2.00. The objective at 6.40 is now met, but the formation still gives a signal in the same direction. The stock has support at p 3.00. High Risk. The average difference between the highest and lowest price of a moving trading month is 62%.

Technical Analysis: African Gold (AFG.L) Last Time Updated Tuesday March 16
Short Term Commentary

Short term trend is strongly bearish, trendline slope is negative. Levels over 10.01 can act as a resistance if price bounces up.

Medium Term Commentary

Medium term price trend for African Gold is still bullish this week. This stock overperforms the FTSE 100 INDEX by 138.92 %. Volatility has been decreasing during last month. Be alert to the proximity of support 9 , and a possible rebound from this level.

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/tech/a/afg.l.html

Safe-haven buying lifts COMEX gold before Fed stands pat
Reuters, 03.16.04, 3:15 PM ET

NEW YORK, March 16 (Reuters) - COMEX gold rose Tuesday, sought as a safe-haven since the Madrid train bombings with its advantage over the dollar reinforced after the close, when the Federal Reserve refrained from tightening monetary policy.

Gold held strong even as the dollar cut losses before the Federal Open Market Committee concluded its regular meeting by holding interest rates at 45-year lows, as expected.

The Fed said it can be patient in ending the accomodative policy which contributed to the dollar's slide this year and made non-interest-bearing hard assets like gold more attractive by comparison.

April gold ended up $3 at $402.60, trading from $399.20 to $404.70. Estimated volume was a moderate 40,000 contracts.

Spot gold closed at $402.00/2.80, up from $399.25/9.75 late Monday. London's afternoon fix was $402.50.

"I don't think there is any other factor out there other than the fundamentals that are impacting the dollar, whether it be terrorism, the low interest rates or the twin deficits," said David Rinehimer, head of commodities research at Citigroup Global Markets.

He continued, "They are variables that are impacting the dollar and that's going to have an inverse relationship to price of gold."

Dealers said gold was in a $395-$405 range, and was joined at the hip with the euro, which rose to $1.2372 overnight, but was last unchanged from the previous close at $1.2264/69.

April gold hit a 15-year high at $432.30 on Jan. 6 as the euro was rallying toward February's record high at $1.2927.

The dollar was plagued by security concerns as it became clearer that Islamic extremists linked to al Qaeda were behind the 10 bombings which killed 201 in Madrid last week.

The attacks swung Spanish voters against the government of the Popular Party in Sunday's general election and brought the Socialists into power.

Incoming leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ran against Spain's role in the U.S.-led war in Iraq and said he would probably pull Spain's 1,300 troops out of Iraq by mid-year unless the United Nations takes charge there.

With speculators having liquidated most of the record long position held in gold late last year, and geopolitical uncertainty back as a top theme in global markets, dealers saw plenty of scope for funds to play gold as a safe haven again.

"I don't think the magnitude of the long position will approach what it was last year, but I think it could start to climb a little bit," said a bullion dealer, citing "interest rates and an increase in terror around the world."

Floor brokers said a strong bullish signal would be a close above the 100 day moving average, which is a technical trend indicator on the charts, currently located at $402.80.

May silver went up 2.7 cents to $7.167 an ounce, in a $7.125-$7.21 range. Spot silver last fetched $7.13/15, up from $7.11/13 previously. The fix was at $7.155.

NYMEX April platinum fell $11.60 at $902.40 an ounce. Spot closed at $899.00/904.00.

June palladium rose $1.85 to $281.60, holding near Monday's contract high at $287.00. Spot was last priced $277.00/282.00.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

Gold prices climb to one-week high
Fed decision likely to lift Wednesday's trade, analyst says

By Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:22 PM ET March 16, 200

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Gold futures climbed Tuesday, sending prices to their highest closing level in a week and taking the total gain for their two-session climb to $7 an ounce.

Investors, hit by weakness in the U.S. dollar, sought refuge in the precious metals. Futures trading closed 45 minutes ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision to stand pat on interest rates -- an announcement that had been widely expected. See full story and read the full Fed statement.

Gold for April delivery traded as high as $404.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a level not seen since March 9. It closed at $402.60 an ounce, up $3. The contract already climbed $4 in the previous session.

Gains in gold Tuesday came as the dollar fell against the European and Japanese currencies. A report indicated that the Bank of Japan is considering an exit strategy for its dollar-buying interventions. See Currencies Report.

But "there are several factors besides just the weaker dollar correlation of why gold is higher," said John Person, head financial analyst at Infinity Brokerage Services, pointing out that the weaker dollar is like "just the means not the ends."

"The true value lies in demand, and that is what makes gold an exciting investment vehicle right now," he said.

Prices have been correcting since they peaked in January above $430, but Person believes they're on they're way to the $450 and maybe the $475 level, "on this leg of the next bull wave."

"Gold is acting bullish on the bet that there is inflation," he said. The concept of "little inflationary pressures" is difficult to see given the height and speed of the overall commodity price climb.

Fed influence

The Federal Reserve's decision to leave overnight interest rates unchanged at 1 percent -- a 45-year low -- could provide support for the gold market Wednesday, an analyst said.

"The Fed did not change much in their previous stance," said John Person, head financial analyst at Infinity Brokerage Services.

But "this leaves the door open for an accommodative stance for a longer period of time," which should, in turn, be "bullish for gold as it may accelerate inflation since we are in a loose monetary situation," he said.

"Lower interest rates have been positive for gold and may remain so," he said. With that, he believes the market will react with a "positive tone" Wednesday.

Silver, copper climb again

Ahead of the Fed announcement, silver and copper futures climbed along with gold. Those metals have now posted gains in four of the last five sessions.

"Presently, some precious metals markets are being driven solely by momentum and speculative fever, such as silver, platinum and palladium," said Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management.

On Tuesday, May silver rose 2.7 cents to close at $7.167 per ounce. May copper climbed by 1.7 cent to end the session at $1.366 per pound.

"Silver remains complete[ly] uncorrelated from gold, and is still benefiting fully from the rally on base metals," Frederic Lasserre, an analyst at Societe Generale said in a note to clients.

But while China and India are "monster buyers of industrial metals" amid economic expansion, "speculative interest in these metals has far out-shadowed basic fundamental supply and demand considerations," said Kaplan.

On the supply end, copper supplies were down 1,085 short tons at 231,818 short tons as of late Monday, according to Nymex. Silver stocks were down 10,297 troy ounces at 122.8 million troy ounces.

Gold inventories stood at 3.57 million troy ounces, up 41,293 troy ounces from the previous session.

June palladium also tacked on $1.85 to close at $281.60 an ounce. But Platinum for April delivery closed at $902.40 an ounce, down $11.60.

Mining indexes hold gains

After falling more than 2 percent in the previous session to one-month low, key indexes for metals mining shares closed higher Tuesday.

Mining equities were apparently unaffected by the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.

The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index ($XAU: news, chart, profile) and the Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI: news, chart, profile) each tacked on 1.2 percent to close at 97.44 and 218.29, within the session's trading range.

The CBOE Gold Index ($GOX: news, chart, profile) closed at 83.95, up 1.1 percent.

Leading the indexes higher were shares of Durban Deep (DROOY: news, chart, profile), which climbed 4.5 percent and Barrick Gold (ABX: news, chart, profile), up 3.2 percent. Shares of Bema Gold (BGO: news, chart, profile) and Coeur d'Alene Mines (CDE: news, chart, profile) gained around 3 percent.

Myra P. Saefong is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco.

My BUY order of 117061 @ 8.5p @ 16:19 has just come thru as a SELL. I think these are very cheap as institutions have bought in @ 9p.

Yes very much so azhar. The price closing at 8.0-9.5 pence today, very cheap indeed.

Buys roughly 550,000 today vs sells 567,216 today.

So in fact we didn't have that many sells today, equalled to the buys. Sells drying up and have been this week.

The company a year ago that was on it's knees, convinced 5 directors to put up 100K each, and several insitutions to subscribe for 27million shares at 9p raising 2.44m.

Teeling has reduced his responsibilities elsewhere to concentrate on AFD, and AFG, and PRE.

Due diligence, I suspect, because they have only a couple of mining engineers is taking a little longer than we would like. BUT when it happens we shall be the beneficiaries.

SUE buys 281,617 vs sells 757,030

SUE figures are right.

A majority of the buys appeared in the sell column. Trades over 18,000 shares are delayed by an hour hence for larger trades it is important to note the time of the trade and compare the time of the trade with the intraday chart and one should then be able to deduce whether a trade was a buy or sell.

Buys roughly 550,000 today vs sells 567,216 today.

This little piece just turned up on the tips emailing:

The 20 tips made by t1ps.com in 2003 soared by an average of 53%. But the site offers so much more. Wednesday sees the fortnightly webcast with the UK's top short-seller Evil Knievil - logon now to find out his latest targets. And the next four days also sees exclusive webcasts with Irish resources tycoon John Teeling, Kenmare Resources and African Eagle. There might even be another hot tip on the way! To make sure that you don't miss out click here

Gold has been consolidating for 7-8 weeks (?) Some Fund
managers have started buying into Gold.. (A safe haven given recent
market uncertainty and renewed global threats). Gold looks set for
outbreak and perhaps a fairly sharpish rise soon.. That'll only help
AFG.

John Teeling delivered for PET, when that had been walked down to 20p by mms.
It rose by 100% within 1.5 days.. (AFG has just been receiving the
same mm dealer's treatment for a week or two - they will squeeze
back whatever they can from T trades.. Extended credit can be very
high risk) Just like PET recently and AFD on Monday, most retail
investors are fully aware of AFG mate, and it's imminent likely
considerable bounce from the bottom ! For chartists, t/a indicators
have all conjoined, which whilst perhaps looking weak, is usually
in fact a very strong sign of imminent outbreak and sharp recovery,
which imv on AFG means perhaps 14.5p again ?

IMO AFG is going to spring back like AFD started to from Tuesday
morning,although the bounce back here could be far quicker. MMs
wont mess about putting prices straight back up and fast. I know
I joked a little bit the other day about delayed trades and premiums
being paid around 11.5p, but that was on very low volumes. When
retail return to AFG, the results could be spectacular, and on the
expected and hoped for news, then as you've offered 15p to 25p seems
more than possible, perhaps fairly soon..

AFG only looks set to do similar to what PET did.
Most retail investors seem happy to be leaving these opportunities
more and more until the last minutes, hence sometimes the lows can
get to you.. But you clearly have faith in the company and your
investment, and know that like AFD and others, very often you only
have to wait so long, before suddenly everyone is all over your
stock again with great enthusiasm.. -talk of the town..LOL !

That was a significant post ! As if you put together, the T/A indicators,
charts, RNSs and now John Teeling appearing on t1ps.com intercast,
with no doubt BUY tips - AFG is a "strong buy" and imv could do a PET very quickly.

COMEX gold ends higher after Baghdad Hotel blast
Reuters, 03.17.04, 3:16 PM ET

NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - COMEX gold rose late Wednesday, escaping a tight range after an explosion that ripped through a Baghdad hotel and killed at least 25 motivated investors to buy the safe-haven metal.

Dealers said the investment fund buying seen in the last half hour of floor trade did not all seem entirely related to the midday blast, which destroyed the Mount Lebanon Hotel, used mainly by Iraqis and other Arabs.

The U.S. Army said it was probably a car bomb. Some U.S. civilians were wounded, according to a U.S. officer at the scene.

April gold ended up $4.50 at $407.10 an ounce, near the high of its $401.90-$407.50 range.

Spot gold rose to $406.50/7.25 from Tuesday's close at $402.00/2.80. London's afternoon fix was $402.75.

"I tend to think it was real buying," said Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management. "It doesn't appear to me like it would have been a terrorist-related event, because if that were the case you would have seen the effect in the dollar and you did not.

"The rally was strictly and solely in gold and silver," he added.

The dollar stayed firm, shaking off geopolitical concerns from the attacks in Baghdad and in Madrid last Thursday.

Gold's usual tight relationship with Europe's currency was less in evidence. It cleared its one-week, $395-$405 trading range, even though the euro stayed weak, ending at $1.2252/57.

"Funds were buying it. I know there was the news story out in the afternoon about the bombing in Baghdad, but that wasn't the whole thing certainly," said James Pogoda, a vice president of precious metals at Mitsubishi International Corp.

Pogoda said preset stop-loss buy orders accelerated the rally once the $405 and $406 levels were broken.

Spanish authorities said their investigation was in a decisive phase. Spain's El Pais newspaper reported that police believed the attacks which killed 201 people on packed commuter trains were carried out by people linked to a Moroccan Islamic group which it said was financed by al Qaeda, the organization blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America.

The Federal Reserve held U.S. interest rates at 45-year lows near 1 percent on Tuesday, citing the lack of inflation pressures and slow job creation. That maintained the relative appeal of hard assets like gold, which carry no yield, as alternatives to dollar deposits.

May silver rose 9.3 cents to $7.26 an ounce, in a $7.12-$7.275 range. Spot silver fetched $7.22/24, up from $7.13/15 late Tuesday. The fix was at $7.155.

NYMEX April platinum rose $4.40 to $906.80 an ounce. Spot was indicated at $905.00/910.00.

June palladium fell $6.30 to $275.30. Spot was priced at $271.00/276.00.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

Price 8.5-10.0 pence, up 5.7% today. Massive upturn in volume today with nearly 850,000 shares already traded today. A big majority are buys that have appeared in the sell column. A 100,000 buy has been reported at 8.8 pence along with a 106,000 buy at 9.3 pence. Plus a lot of other good buys.

Volume past 1 milion already today.

BUYS = 757,970 vs SELLS = 320,763 so far today.

Buys outweigh sells by more than 2:1.