In Canada, junior mining executives told Mining Journal they were feeling more confident than a year ago in the lead-up to the Vancouver gathering.

The TSX mining and metals sector closed up more than 1% on Friday, and Royal Nickel Corp (CN:RNC) was one of the bigger movers with a gain of just over 16% taking it to a 10-month high.

The diversified miner last week announced it had increased gold production at its Beta Hunt mine in Western Australia by 21% in the fourth quarter and 33% for 2017; and also dusted off plans for its shovel-ready Dumont nickel-cobalt project in Quebec, which it says contains the world's largest undeveloped reserves of both cobalt and nickel.

Gold was trading at US$1,331 an ounce on the spot market earlier as the US government shutdown enters its third day ahead of a key vote on a short-term funding bill set for noon in Washington.

US president Donald Trump is then scheduled to join global leaders at the World Economic Forum that starts tomorrow in Davos, Switzerland.