Price Data Spur Gold Buying

Metal inventories at iShares Comex Gold Trust (IAU Quote), the other U.S. gold bullion ETF, remained steady at about 46 tons.

Turning to the technical analysis side of things, one chart-watcher sees the possibility of a near-term run-up for Newmont Mining(NEM Quote).

"Newmont appears to be on the verge of breaking out," writes Clive Maund, a Chile-based technical analyst. He suggests "aggressive" traders might want to buy call options with a strike price at $40 a share to benefit from the climb he expects.

The stock was recently selling for $40.29, a 2.2% gain.

Other shares on the move in the mining patch included Kinross Gold(KGC Quote), up 3.6%, and Meridian Gold(MDG Quote), better by 2.9%.

As for base metals, prices for benchmark copper contracts were gaining 7 cents at $3.38 a pound, with falling inventories on the London Metal Exchange providing the impetus for the boost.

Diversified mining giant BHP(BHP Quote) announced Marius Kloppers, a 14-year veteran of the company and currently president of its nonferrous materials division, will succeed outgoing CEO Chip Goodyear at the beginning of October.

Shares of BHP were recently moving ahead by 1.2%.