It’s like deja vu for the top mining executives who are presenting their corporate pictures this week at the Denver Gold Forum, an annual industry get-together. Just like last year, top mining executives are still grappling with the touchy issues of renewing reserves, controlling costs and struggling to put projects into production.

Here’s a look at some of the latest Reuters stories out of Denver from reporter Frank Tang:

• Barrick confirms cost view
• Freeport CEO says confident on DRC Tenke project
• Barrick to tackle costs with oil assets, new mines
• Newmont sees costs constraining Boddington mine
• Lower copper prices hurting Freeport-McMoran - CEO

More from the Denver Gold Forum

Photo:  A bar of gold bullion is seen in the museum of the Bank of England, in London, March 25, 2008. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/Files.

A surprise cut in production from OPEC and Hurricane’s Ike’s looming presence in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are supporting oil prices above $100 a barrel. Just a daily move? Not to some. On OPEC, UBS told clients: ”We think this is a serious deal for a real cut… In this market, direction matters and this is a turn.”

It’s hard to grasp just what’s behind the volatility in oil prices lately, says Jim Landers of the Dallas News, taking on the Bubble Theory for the $40 a barrel drop in oil prices since July 11. (Pictured above: Havana before Ike hit)

Here are some of the stories Reuters commodities reporters are keeping an eye on today:

• MMS releases updated production data from Gulf of Mexico in Gustav’s wake
• Independent report on role of speculators in big oil, commodities price swings
• Denver Gold Conference winds down but not before we’ve heard from miners Freeport, Newmont and Barrick

Gold’s oil-buying power is at its lowest in three years. (The chart shows the price of oil rising relative to the price of gold.) Hedge funds and other traders who play the gold/oil spread could be taking profits. Otherwise, this is hard to explain, since gold is considered a leading indicator of inflation.

In the past two weeks, crude oil prices rose to a record near $120 a barrel, while the spot price of gold fell from around $950 to $870 an ounce. Today an ounce of gold buys 7.65 barrels of oil. When gold was near $1,000 an ounce earlier this year, an ounce bought more than 10 barrels of oil. Gold’s weakest point relative to oil was in 2005 around 6 barrels.

Is the underperformance signalling that inflation expectations are overblown? Perhaps the Fed knows something … it cut a key interest rate another quarter percentage point on Wednesday and said it expected inflation to moderate in coming quarters, as energy and commodity prices level out. “I am still not getting why gold is trading down here and crude is up there. So something’s gotta give,” said Jonathan Jossen, an independent floor trader on the COMEX gold floor.

Here are two outstanding examples of the ripple effects around the world when the dollar stumbles. Oil is at a record high at $110 and gold has topped $1,000 an ounce for the first time, while the dollar has fallen below 100 yen for the first time in more than a decade. Most commodities are priced in dollars, so the weaker the greenback, the cheaper it is for holders of other currencies to buy gold and oil. Gold is also generally seen as a hedge against oil-led inflation. Gold has jumped 19 percent this year on top of a 32 percent rise in 2007.