Michael Forrest reviews the IOM3 2009 Commodity Day, held on 24 November in London, UK, which focused on gold.

In the 2009 Corporate Exploration Strategies survey by Canadian company Metals Economics Group, gold accounted for 39% of exploration spend (base metals accounted for 41%). Although it reveals a 42% decline from the US$14.4 billion of 2008, the predicted demise of the majority of the junior companies at the hands of reluctant financiers did not come to pass. In the first nine months of 2009, over 300 equity financings took place in exchanges around the world, each raising a minimum of US$2m. Read full article