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

Gold up again today, at $414.60, up 2.50.

http://www.kitco.com/

Gold at $415.50, up +3.40.

Beer, mining and gold likely to hog limelight this week
March 22, 2004

By Reuters and Bloomberg

Johannesburg - Beer and mining are expected to hog the limelight on the stock exchange this week, when SABMiller releases a trading update and Anglovaal Mining gives its first-half results.

Gold stocks, a mainstay of the bourse, might also be popular in the holiday-shortened week if the bullion price stayed around $410 an ounce, fund managers said.

"Some resource counters like Anglo American and BHP Billiton could bounce back from oversold positions," said Neels van Schaik of PSG Fund Management.

"If the gold price keeps at these levels, we could see a rise in gold shares, driven by those listed in New York, including Gold Fields and Harmony," he added.

Investors are on holiday today.

SABMiller is due tomorrow to issue a trading statement before it goes into its closed period ahead of full-year results on May 20.

Fund managers said the focus would be on the performance of Miller in the US and the effect its Chinese business was having on its bottom line. SABMiller makes up more than 5 percent of the FTSE/JSE Africa all share index.

On Wednesday, base metal miner Anglovaal Mining releases its interim results to the end of December. It expects earnings to be more than 30 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier, hurt by rand strength and new accounting standards.

Although analysts do not expect too many surprises, they will be scrutinising the results for cash flow, with one asset manager expecting a deterioration.

Later on Wednesday, the spotlight shifts to economic data when Statistics SA releases CPIX figures for February and the Reserve Bank issues its quarterly bulletin. On Thursday, producer inflation data are due for release.


Investors in stocks sensitive to interest rate, such as banks and retailers will keep a close eye on the data.

Economists said inflation was expected to have nudged higher in February, confirming the cycle had turned upwards and making an interest rate hike later this year more likely.

Gold shares were the bright stars in a lethargic market on Friday, as the precious metal's safe haven appeal received a boost from renewed global concerns.

The gold price was buoyed by news that police in Washington were searching all the city's schools after receiving a bomb threat via the internet.

AngloGold added 0.5 percent to R277.40 and Gold Fields trotted 1.1 percent higher to R81.90. Gold was up $1.25 at $412 an ounce in afternoon London spot trade.

Anglo American fell 2.4 percent to R158.40 as the rand gained against the dollar, although Anglo American Platinum edged up 0.6 percent to R303.93. BHP Billiton dropped 2.4 percent to R60.25.

The all share index closed 0.9 percent lower at 10 815.99, even though gainers edged out losers 98 to 97. The Top40 index slid 0.95 percent to 9926.44 points.

Shares in banking group Nedcor closed in the black after falling more than 8 percent to a new seven-and-a-half year low of R55 on news that the group had priced a $5 billion rights issue at R45 a share, well below what investors had expected.

The bank's shares closed 0.8 percent higher at R60.11.

Gold at $416.40 now, up 4.30.

Gold breakout, $417.20, up 5.10. Bodes well for AFG.

Gold, $417.80, up 5.70.

Gold, $418.00, up 5.90.

COMEX gold grinds higher on Hamas assassination
Reuters, 03.22.04, 10:16 AM ET

NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - COMEX gold rose to its highest in more than a month Monday morning as investors jumped into safe havens after Israel killed the founder of Hamas and Palestinians vowed revenge.

The dollar succumbed to security concerns, but dealers said the gold-dollar correlation was looser than usual.

"There have been a couple of funds that have been driving it higher," James Pogoda, a vice president of precious metals at Mitsubishi International Corp, said of gold. "The euro is really not running away though. So you've got to watch any rally here. It may be a bit overdone on the upside."

At 10:05 a.m. EST (1505 GMT), April gold <0#GC:> was up $5.50 at $418.20 an ounce, peaking at $419.00, its highest since Jan. 15, off a low of $411.50.

Spot gold was quoted at $417.25/8.00, up from the close at $411.75/2.50 on Friday. The London afternoon fix was $417.65.

Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin provoked Palestinian and Muslim fury, European condemnation and U.S. denials that it approved the predawn missile attack on the wheelchair-bound cleric.

Gold has surged back in favor as portfolio insurance and a favorite of speculators in recent sessions. It remains about $14 below the 15-year high of $432.30 hit on Jan 6.

Weeks of sideways trading around $400 came to an end after deadly train bombings in Madrid, deteriorating security and further attacks in Iraq, and the mysterious pre-election shootings of the president and vice president of Taiwan.

Speculators have more room to get long in gold again after reducing one of the largest COMEX positions ever as they drove prices down below $390 early this month.

The CFTC reported late Friday that the net speculative long position rose to 62,479 contracts as of last Tuesday from 60,539 lots the week before.

"We think this puts them on the verge of committing to a full cycle of long accumulation, with the 115,985 contract peak from Jan. 6 or the 122,847 contract extreme from Sept. 2, 2003, as possible longer-term targets," wrote Timothy Evans, analyst at IFR/Pegasus.

May silver <0#SI:> continued to rally toward $8 an ounce it last saw in 1988. The contract was up 5.7 cents at $7.62, trading $7.765 to $7.515.

Funds have been running silver higher as an alternative to gold, getting more bang for their buck because there are fewer buyers and sellers in silver than in gold that, as a result, exaggerates moves in silver.

Spot silver was quoted at $7.58/60, up from the close at $7.54/57. The fix was $7.65.

Spot silver is nearing the $7.90 peak from 1998 after billionaire investor Warren Buffet bought 130 million ounces of the metal, creating a physical squeeze that put the forward market in deep backwardation.

Spot prices were much higher than futures at the time, explaining why futures are at 16-year highs while silver bullion is only at a six-year high.

NYMEX April platinum <0#PL:> was up $8 at $898.00 an ounce. Spot closed at $895.00/900.00.

June palladium <0#PA:> was $4.10 higher at $282.10 an ounce. Spot was last priced at $279.00/284.00.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

An upbeat statement in a weekend webcast on t1ps.com from John Teeling of African Gold helped his company's shares to add 0.5p to 10.25p. Teeling was also talking up Petrel Resources in the webcast and the Iraqi oil junior gained 1.25p to 36p.

Market Cap as of 27.02.04 26.1 million

Keep Betting on Gold
argues Charles Vintcent on TopSpreadBets.com

The first time we ran a bet on gold on TopSpreadBets.com we netted a gain of 26.2 dollars - at our suggested bet of 20 pounds a dollar that would have been a gain of 524 pounds. Enough to pay for a couple of lunches. We reopened the bet about a month ago, at 414.6 dollars based on the June future and for a while it looked as if we might seem like right Charlies but we set our stop loss at the right level and were not stopped out. Again our suggested wager is twenty pounds a dollar and with the June future now trading at 418-419.4.1 dollars we are looking alright. But it is not too late to climb on board. We are convinced that gold is heading higher and if you don't have a position you should open a new bet now.

The Fundamental View

In theory Central bankers in the US are independent. In practice they do not like to upset political applecarts in the run up to an election. So the odds on Alan Greenspan throwing a spanner in the campaigning works for the Leader of the Western World (GW Bush) by a sharp tightening of monetary policy are minimal. Moreover one has to understand the American psyche. In Europe our grandfathers tell us of Weimar of an era of hyper-inflation. In the US there was no such experience. Instead grandfathers relay tales of massive deflation during the thirties. Since we always fight past bogeymen, the Americans are happy to risk inflationary pressures ahead if they can ward of even vague deflationary risks. So US monetary policy will remain loose. On that basis why hold dollars and earn 1%? It is not that much more attractive than gold (yield 0%) and...

Gold is not being printed like there is no tomorrow. But that is precisely what GWB is doing with his huge budget deficit. And he knows that the only way that his gaping trade deficit will be conquered is via a weaker dollar. And that is one reason why gold is going up. There is an additional reason: gold is a portable permanent store of wealth and in troubled times that always has a value. Look what happened to the gold price in 1979 as the Russians invaded Afghanistan. If gold had enjoyed the same inflation as a loaf of bread over the past 25 years it would be trading at 2000 dollars an ounce! We are not saying that Al-Qaeda poses the same global threat as the risks of global thermonuclear war in the late seventies but the risks of some real horror unsettling investors and prompting a flight to gold are very real. So we are very bullish on gold.

The Technical View



One of the most and least helpful stock market clich is that the trend is your friend. This was not that useful for those holding tech stocks after March 2000, but for those long of gold where there has not yet been a buying climax, the trend is definitely the thing to keep on following. As far as the chart of gold is concerned, we see how despite the February pullback below 400 dollars, the long standing ascending price channel in place since this time last year, was never in doubt. Indeed, while above the April 2003 support line at 395 dollars on a weekly close stop loss basis, bulls of gold can safely target the top of the price channel that is projecting a 450 dollars target.

Conclusion

Open a buy bet on Gold based on the June future at 419.4 dollars an ounce with a stop loss at 395 dollars an ounce on a weekly close basis and an initial target of 450 dollars an ounce.

why its so quite on this thread?

more sells than buys,and the price is dropping as well,Sue any views as we have not heard from you for some while now.please give your thoughts,thanks.

Hi ateeq, just waiting for the news to come. Taking longer than I expected. The price has bounced off the support at 8 pence again, 8.0-9.5 pence.

Thanks Sue, hanging in there for the good news,as the gold is up again and looks like this will strengthen the gold stocks.good luck to all afg holders.

Thanks Sue, hanging in there for the good news,as the gold is up again and looks like this will strengthen the gold stocks.good luck to all afg holders.

Better, 8.5-10.0 pence now.

Rumour of the day



AFRICAN GOLD, the mining company listed on AIM, added 1p at 9p on talk that it will elevate a non-executive, Hank Slack, to chairman. As a former director of Anglo American and Minorco, he is seen as well placed to acquire non-core assets from the South African majors. AG is also set to replace Rowan Dartington as stockbroker with Canaccord Capital

From the times

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8211-1059756,00.html

Cheers.

Will that be good or bad news sue?
Ive heard that big fish swimming in little ponds can cause a lot of problems with there ideas etc.