Vancouver junior surges after Goldcorp injection

Both dealers and wholesalers are reporting the supply of maple leaf silver coins is now weeks backlogged.

The world's largest primary silver producer reported a slight fall in production for 2012.

The property now includes 11,684 ha (117 km2) up from the original 6,880 as per March last year.

Veteran investor Michael Pento says the deep-rooted troubles of Japan's economy could send a rush of money into gold and silver should domestic interest rates increase.

Latin America will benefit from having “more firepower” than other regions, as strong international reserves are already helping those countries face commodity price collapses, said Lisa Schineller, Standard & Poor's economist.

Exploration investment in the country reached a record high of $3.9 billion in 2011, with the three territories receiving 22% of the total international spending for the year.

That and fighting off BHP's advances.

Mining capex was up 12% to $211 billion last year.

Five gold miners working in a northern province of Colombia were kidnapped Friday afternoon by the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN).