The interest put toward gold and the mining companies that extract the metal are great, as inflation fears loom and investors seek havens. There is a related exchange traded fund (ETF) that tracks the exploratory aspect of this commodity.

Although the equities market has rallied over the past few months, the price of gold has stood its ground and kept most of its gains. The inflation fears have sustained as the Federal Reserve has continued to print money and fund stimulus packages, creating more demand for gold as of late, reports Chris Zappone for Brisbane Times.

Meanwhile, the smaller mining companies in Australia are pushing the movement to merge, as they want to bulk up and meet the investment demand. At least two multimillion-dollar mining deals have been tabled in the past few weeks and investment bankers and analysts are counting on more to come, reports James Pethokoukis for Reuters.

The goal is to put assets together so that the companies can do better together than they could do apart. The names of the companies have not been disclosed.

• Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX): up 16.3% year-to-date

For more stories on gold, visit our gold category.

Tags: Commodity ETFs, GDX, Gold, Gold Miners, Metals & Mining, Precious Metals, Sector ETFs