HOT TOPIC: The Haitian relief effort

In the aftermath of the terrible earthquake that shook Haiti to its roots, donations to the relief effort are pouring in. This week's question is: Have you made a personal contribution toward helping the grief-stricken nation?

Go to the CMJ website, www.CanadianMiningJournal.com, and click on the Hot Topic box on the right hand side of the page to vote.

If you have a comment on this topic or a suggestion for a future question, please send it to the Net News editor, Marilyn Scales, MScales@CanadianMiningJournal.com.

Last week: For the last two weeks we have asked CMJ readers to guess by what percentage the price of gold will rise during 2010. Personally, I think it will rise by 10-15%, and so do 27% of our readers. A further 28% are more optimistic, suggesting a rise of 20-25%. Sixteen per cent think there will be no real gain in the gold price this year; and there were others thinking the gain will be as much as 50% or more.

According to the weekly recap by MineralPrices.com, the gold price is already up 30% from the beginning of the year. We will leave our readers in suspense and check again at the end of next December to see how their prognostications and the price of the yellow metal compare at that time.