Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX), the largest gold mining company in the world, has entered into an agreement with Xstrata Copper Chile S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Xstrata Plc, to acquire Xstrata’s 70% interest in the El Morro project for $465 million in cash. Another Canadian miner, New Gold Inc. (NGD) owns the remaining 30% interest in El Morro. The El Morro gold project is located in the Atacama Region in Chile. The project has total measured and indicated resources of about 8.3 million ounces of gold and about 6.3 billion pounds of copper. The acquisition will add another large, high quality gold-copper resource to Barrick’s portfolio. In Chile, Barrick already controls a project, which is entering construction, called Pascua-Lama. It also has a 50% stake in another mine, the Cerro Casale project. El Morro is located near the Pascua-Lama and Cerro Casale projects. Xstrata ...

George Topping, a research analyst specializing in the mining sector at Blackmont Capital, pays closer attention to uranium and copper than he does gold and silver, but in this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, he shares what he foresees: gold flat at $950 per ounce (in real terms) through 2011, copper at $1.80 per pound in two years, and uranium nudging up $100 per pound within five years.

The Gold Report: Let’s begin with some of your thoughts about uranium. Almost two years ago, spot prices hit a record $137 per pound. A year ago—well before the bottom fell out of virtually all the markets—the spot price dropped by nearly half, to the neighborhood of $70. You focus a lot of your attention on uranium. How do you see its future shaping up?

George Topping: The situation right now is you’ve got the spot price down at about $43 a pound …

That's my take-away from what I've been reading around the web recently -- a real conflict of opinion. You know my opinion -- I believe we are in a long-term commodity supercycle. But let me show you the stories I've found and you can decide for yourselves.First, I mentioned a couple days ago that Pakistan – a nuclear-armed power with a strong Taliban insurgency – seems to be melting down. They’ve gone from tragedy to comedy …

Pakistan Sets Floor on Stock Prices to Stop Plunge

Pakistan set a floor for stock prices on the benchmark exchange, moving to halt a plunge that has wiped out $36.9 billion of market value since April.Securities can trade within their daily limit of 5 percent ``but not below the floor-price level'' of yesterday's close.

Yes! That’s what I’ve always wanted – a stock market that can only go up. Don’t tell Bush

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Labor Day is around the corner, so we can expect low volume.  That should lead to more volatility this week -- up, down or both -- but it may not count for much in the long term.  This is a good week for watching and waiting.

News of Interest

ECONOMY

U.S. and Global Economies Slipping in Unison

Only a few months ago, some economists still offered hope that robust expansion could continue in much of the world even as the United States slowed. Foreign investment was expected to keep replenishing American banks still bleeding from their disastrous bets on real estate and to provide money for companies looking to expand. Overseas demand for American goods and services was supposed to continue compensating for waning demand in the States. Now, high energy prices, financial systems crippled by fear, and

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