John Hathaway: $1.3B fund manager: Silver is a barometer for resource interest and it’s registering ZERO

Vancouver-based miner Endeavour Silver has discovered two high-grade silver/gold zones at its Guanajuato mine in Mexico and anticipates a significant increase in reserves and resources at the mine at the year-end.

Precious metals took a beating in the markets on Monday, with gold and silver falling in inverse relation to a 1% rise in the US dollar. Gold for February delivery crashed $52.60 to $1664.20 an ounce at Comex in New York. Silver sunk $1.20 to $31.05/oz.

A new zinc mine in Canada's Northwest Territories has received environmental approval. Canadian Zinc Corporation (TSE:CZN) said Friday that its Prairie Creek Mine has cleared an environmental review by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, meaning the mine can proceed to the next stage of regulatory approvals.

A new open-pit copper-gold mine in Canada's Yukon Territory would be powered with natural gas. Releasing an update today on its Casino project, Western Copper and Gold Corp. (TSE:WRN) says the company has partnered with Yukon Energy Corp., the territory's energy utility, to evaluate strategies for supplying liquified natural gas (LNG) to the mine and the Yukon.

Ecuador is not a top-of-mind country when it comes to mining, but that could change as the government signals a shift in direction towards the minerals sector, the Globe and Mail is reporting. The Globe reports that the leftist government of Rafael Correa plans to invest $3 billion in the next two and a half years in order to reduce the country's dependence on oil exports.

Coin Update reports for November 2011, sales of the United States Mint’s most popular gold and silver bullion coins fell to their lowest monthly levels in years after first slowing down in October. Sales of the one ounce American Silver Eagle coins were 1,384,000 for November, down by more than 50% from the previous month and down by nearly two-thirds from a year ago while the American Gold Eagle coin sales totaled 41,000 ounces for November 2011, down from 50,000 ounces in the previous month, and down more than half last year's monthly sales.

Silver Bull Resources Inc. (SVB.TO,SVBL) is trading over 7% higher today at 58 cents a share and the company receiving a $5-million investment from Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. (CDM.TO,CDE) as part of a larger non-brokered sale of stock raising $7.525 million in gross proceeds.

More than 150 internationally known writers and artists are urging Mexican President Felipe Calderon to cancel mining concessions in an area of northern Mexico considered sacred ground by the Huichol Indians.

North American stock exchanges are on a tear today after central banks made more funds available to lenders, giving investors hope for a way out of the European debt debacle. The markets were also cheered by better than expected private sector job growth in the United States. The mining-heavy S&P/TSX Composite was up 2.5% to just over 12,000 at time of writing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 384 points, or 3.3%, the most on a closing basis since Aug. 11, according to Bloomberg. Spot gold was up $32 from yesterday to $1747 which is just above the 20-day moving average of $1744, noted Kitco. Silver was up marginally to $32.86 from yesterday's $31.92, while benchmark copper was up more than 5% to a two-week high of $7,885/tonne. Zinc, lead, aluminum and nickel were also up from Tuesday.