Platinum comeback to $1000 level, gold & silver remain steady

Platinum made a comeback after posting extensive gain since it slowed down mid-year 2008. The industrial metal made a $44 rise in a single day trading outperforming other commodities. Meanwhile, gold remained steady in the $900 after dipping the $800 level last week, silver gained its foothold on the $13 territory after one of its best performance last week.

Bullion coins in the local market remain scarce as more and more people seek silver and gold in exchange of insurance and other paper investments on fear of becoming the latest victim of fraud and pyramid scams as investigation to Legacy Group get into deeper level.

Latest information revealed that owners of the bankrupt company were able to dupe their investors on promise that their investments would double in a short period of time. Owners were said to have paid the first level investors with the promise which had enticed others to believe the investment scheme is working.

Celso Delos Angeles, the company owner made accusations that his company failed due to faulty regulations and red tape in the Central Bank which the bank officers have disregarded as a desperate move by Delos Angeles to sway the flow of the investigation.

The local banking sector is also preparing for drastic measures as gossip about bank mergers circulate in the market. Early this year, East West Bank made one of its biggest deal by acquiring Philam Savings Bank, a local subsidiary once under the international insurance giant AIG. PNB and Allied Bank of business magnate Lucio Tan, is also on talks of a possible merger in the near future as the damage of the global financial crisis deepens in the local economy.

Local mining sector is still making some "ups and downs" headlines as several bad and good news hit the industry this week.

Apex Mining said about 32,000 kilograms of ore with visible gold were discovered during the first week of exploration at a new vein in its mining project at Davao del Norte.

The company said information from this activity will form the basis of further exploration drilling and feasibility studies in its project in Maco town.

The listed company told regulators that it entered into a contract with a cooperative composed of villagers and local government units to explore the new vein system called Sagaysagay, which was discovered by locals last year.

"On the cooperative's first week of operation it gathered 800 bags at 40 kilograms per bag of ore," Apex said.

Sagaysagay contains ores with visible "free-gold" which is expected to result in higher gold recovery.

Apex said there had earlier been an influx of small-scale mining activities at the Sagaysagay vein system without consent from the company.

Apex said it decided to stop the illegal mining activities without antagonizing the locals by entering into a service contract with the local cooperative with members from the indigenous peoples and 15 barangays in Maco.

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