Although precious metal prices and equities were flat to down last week due to the strength of the U.S. economy, there was plenty of corporate development activity in the gold sector to keep investors optimistic. In The Rant, I cover a successful bid by a Chinese-based diversified miner, to acquire a high-grade underground gold project in Colombia that is close to commercial production. In Stock Talk, a nickel explorer, and developer in SE Asia forms an agreement with a battery manufacturer; French Guiana issues a cyanide permit to a remote gold project; a prospect generator moves closer to cash flow generation from a Brazilian copper project while another one raises funds to explore for copper in Eastern Europe and a third one provides an update from drilling its gold-silver project in Mexico.