US ends duty free treatment for gold necklaces

The US has announced gold necklaces imported from India will no longer receive duty free treatment.

Indian gold necklaces are among 25 other products from developing countries which have been affected by the change in the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).

The change was announced by the US Trade Representative’s office following the annual review of the GSP.

Ending the duty free treatment is due to the belief by the US that gold necklaces from India can now compete effectively in America without the tax break, according to NDTV Profit.

In 2007, exports of gold necklaces and other associated products from India accounted for $266 million (£133 million), the news service reported.

"The GSP programme has helped to promote development and reduce poverty in the developing countries while expanding our bilateral trade," said Susan C Schwab from the US Trade Representative’s office.

Last year $30.8 billion worth of goods were imported to the US under the GSP programme, said Reuters.

Italian jewellery to be sold in UAE

The DIT Group from Italy is to sell its gold jewellery products in the United Arab Emirates through the Damas retail network, reports fibre2fashion.

Tawhid Abdullah, managing director of Damas, said as the United Arab Emirates imports 3.1 billion dirhams (£423 million) of jewellery from Italy it is the largest market for Italian gold jewellery in the world.

Jewellery from the DIT Group includes collections from Nouvelle Bague, Porrati, lo Si and Stefan Hafner. These brands are currently sold in 30 countries.

Ilaria Furlotti, chief executive officer of the DIT Group, said "Our main goal is to offer the market a whole range of highly-positioned jewellery brands with strong identities and creative content that would affirm the best values of Italian leadership in design."

The chief executive officer said DIT was a leader in jewellery fashion, not a follower.

In February this year DIT Group partnered with Indian jewellery company Gitanjali to introduce its jewellery range into India.

Gold medallions returned to heirs

Gold-glass medallions stolen by the Nazis have been returned to the rightful owners.

The three gold-glass medallions date back to the fourth century AD and belong to the heirs of the Dzialynska Collection in Poland.

The Commission for Looted Art in Europe announced the medallions have been returned from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

A couple of the medallions bear images of the Lions of Judah, the Temple Menorah and the Holy Ark. Such is their historical significance, the Dzialynska family has allowed the two medallions to remain with the museum.

Countess Isabella Dzialynska nee Czartoryska acquired the medallions in the 19th century to join her collection of paintings and other antiques. The collection was moved by the countess to Warsaw in 1939 but was discovered by Nazis in 1941.

"Although our purpose is to [recreate] . . . the Dzialynska Collection in Poland, we fully recognize the importance of the two glasses to the Jewish people and respect the wishes of the Israel Museum to keep them in Jerusalem," said Count Adam Zamoyski.

In February this year treasure hunters claimed they had found two tonnes of gold stolen by Nazis in a man made cavern in Germany.

Results announced for Romarco

Romarco Minerals has announced assay results from its drilling programme in South Carolina.

Results include a grading of 3.1 g/t of gold across 17.8 metres within a interval of 30.5 metres which had a grading of 2.1 g/t of gold.

Another hole reported a result of 7.7 g/t of gold across 24 metres.

Mineralisation in the area was tested by one hole which produced a gold value of 3.6 g/t of gold across 6.4 metres.

There are two core drill rigs currently active at the Haile mine.

Romarco Minerals said: "The current program is designed to identify additional resources, convert historic resources into proven and probable reserves, and provide representative samples for metallurgical test work."

Production from the company includes three exploration projects in Nevada.

The company also has projects in the Pinos gold district in Zacatecas, Mexico which covers 3,000 hectares. Historical production in the district is estimated at five million ounces of gold at 60 g/t.

Olympic gold coin on sale for $1m

A gold coin weighing 22 pounds and is seven inches in diameter has been created to commemorate the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, according to TwinCities.

The news group said the coin has been released by the China Mint and has a face value of 100,000 yuan.

Of the 29 created, only one is available in the US and can be bought in Burnsville for $1 million.

Douglas Mudd, a curator at the American Numismatic Association money museum, said: "Twenty-two pounds - that’s a lot of gold."

The coin features the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games logo on one side and an image of a Chinese temple and Olympic athletes on the other.

GovMint is the vendor for the coin in the US. In 2000 it sold coins that were created to commemorate the Sydney Olympics.

The coin dealer is also selling a commemorative coin sets including two gold coins for $2,595.

GovMint sells rare coins from across America and the world.

Gold can ‘make objects disappear’

The use of very thin gold may help objects to disappear, claims new research.

Graeme Milton, a mathematician at the University of Utah, said theoretically an object called a superlens can make a small object invisible, according to CNN.

Models made by Mr Milton and his collaborators in Australia found that when light hits the superlens, it reverses and so an item may seem to have vanished.

"We’ve seen it numerically - not in practice, but we’ve got a theoretical proof that collections of particles become invisible," he said.

Mr Milton said that if the superlens was created in reality, very thin gold could produce the same effect.

David Smith, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University, made microwaves in light invisible in 2006 by using electromagnetic waves, according to National Geographic.

He said objects as large as a truck could be made invisible in principle.

"We just don’t know how to do it yet".

Aultra Gold is ‘on the lookout’ for funding

Aultra Gold has announced it is begun the process of finding funding to further advance its gold projects.

The company estimates initial funding could be received within two weeks.

Alongside funding, Aultra Gold is also seeking candidates for acquisition and mergers in order to increase the size and diversification of the company.

"We are acquiring properties that allow cost effective evaluation and development, with potential for strong cash flow," said Rauno Perttu, president of Aultra Gold.

He said the strategy pursued by the company is to raise capital to advance Aultra Gold’s properties such as Jungo and Basin Gulch and to acquire more high quality properties.

The Basin Gulch property in Montana has as estimate of over 2.45 million ounces of gold.

Exploration at the property consisted of 323 drill holes across 90,000 feet and 17,000 feet of trenches.

Jungo, in Nevada, produced a sample of 0.1 ounce per ton of gold during exploration.

Irish gold resource to be upgraded

Conroy Diamonds and Gold, the Irish exploration company, has announced that its gold resource at Clontibret is to be expanded.

In line with the firm’s latest JORC compliant estimate of 1.03 million contained ounces, in an area that represents just 20 per cent of the resource’s target anomaly, the development is said to be "psychologically important" by Mineweb.

According to the news provider, the million-ounce mark should help the company attract other developers and raise finance for further gold exploration.

Richard Conroy, chairman of the company, expressed its pleasure at having achieved its initial target in only 20 per cent of Clontibret.

"The revised cut-off grade brings us in line with our peer group and gives the company a sound basis for pre-feasibility studies," he said.

Professor Conroy formed the organisation in 1995, after having ceased active involvement with Arcon International Resources, which grew out of Conroy Petroleum and Natural Resources.

Gold-embellished stone masterpieces at the Met

More than 170 artworks made of carved stone are to be displayed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art this month, many of which are embellished with gold.

According to Art Daily, the exhibition - which opens on July 1st - pays homage to pietre dure, an Italian term that refers to the artistic crafting of semi-precious stones to make luxury objects.

Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure shows items from the Renaissance to the early 19th century, including objects never before displayed in America.

The online news source asserts: "The presentation at the Metropolitan will offer the most comprehensive overview ever dedicated to this magnificent medium."

Stones were often selected for their rarity or colour, but were also picked for their mystical qualities or religious connotations.

The magazine explains that a particularly luxurious ranking would have been bestowed in a lapis flask embellished with gold that dates back to 1583.

Founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens, the museum states that its reputation as one of the world’s finest began in the 20th century.

Gold nanoparticle research could shine light on cells

Tiny gold nanostructures have been developed that could be valuable as biological sensors, scientists from Duke University have found.

A team of engineers and chemists at the institution have discovered that the nanostructures can create signals from light that reflects off their surfaces, making them potentially appealing as sensors.

Anne Lazarides, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the university’s Pratt School of Engineering, said that researchers can identify molecular-level activity by measuring nanoparticle colour alterations.

The structures could reportedly be used to detect new DNA strands, the research indicates.

"DNA is both the glue that holds all the particles together and also the material to which specific target molecules bind," the researcher explained.

Meanwhile, researchers from the University of Michigan and Trinity College have recently developed a new method of checking the toxicity of gold nanoparticles.

The strategy uses special dyes to discover if the nanoparticles were non-toxic.

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