The richest and poorest countries in the world

Commodity markets were hit this week by shock news that the United States created no jobs in August, sparking speculation that the world's biggest economy could be heading for a double-dip recession. Analysts said the data bolstered expectations that the US Federal Reserve could soon decide to implement another round of quantitative easing -- dubbed QE3 by traders -- to help breathe new life into the struggling economy.

MarketWatch reports Mexico has overtaken Peru as the world's top silver producer as output in the Andean nation has seen a sharp decline during the first six months of 2011. In the January-to-June period, Mexico turned out 1.88 million kilograms (60.4 million ounces), compared to 1.63 million kilograms in Peru, according to government figures.

Silvercorp Metals was forced on Friday to react to an anonymous letter also sent to the Ontario Securities Commission, presumably from a shorter of the company's stock that alleges a “potential $1.3 billion accounting fraud” at the company. The firm with projects in China and Canada closed down just shy of 10% after five times the usual number of shares changed hands. It had lost as much as 14% of its value earlier in the day after the company also said someone had built up a short position of some 23 million shares over the last two months. The Vancouver company has 175 million shares outstanding and is worth $1.3 billion. Silvercorp is the latest in a string of Canadian companies with Chinese backing and operations being accused of fraud.

Claymore Silver Bullion Trust has filed a final short form prospectus in connection with a follow-on offering of hedged trust units, Toronto-based Claymore Investments, Inc. said Wednesday. The hedged units will provide investors with an exposure to physical silver bullion with substantially all of the U.S. dollar currency exposure hedged back to the Canadian dollar. The maximum amount of the offering is $75,000,600 million, or 2,907,000 hedged units, priced at $25.80 per unit.

The increased investor interest and rebound in prices for Silver have made it the new favorites in Asian commodity exchanges. In China's Hunan Province, a new precious metals exchange focussed on silver began trading from late June while the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange has started offering a new silver futures contract from July 22.

Papua New Guinea’s new prime minister Peter O'Neill and the country's Investment Promotion Authority have moved to quell concern about proposed changes governing ownership of resources in the country saying it needs further discussion and acknowledging genealogical problems. Among sweeping changes promised for the impoverished country, PNG's new mining minister introduced a plan to hand state ownership of mineral and energy resources to customary landowners forcing mining companies to renegotiate permits and contracts. Last week O'Neill guaranteed the support of 80% of MPs he needs to preserve his majority ahead of 2012 elections by expanding his cabinet by a third.

Shares of Canada's Gabriel Resources have climbed 16% in the week since plans by its 80%-owned Rosia Montana Gold Corp to build a massive gold mine in Transylvania received public backing from the Romanian president. Gabriel first obtained the concession in 1999 and has already spent $500 million advancing the project and has another $175 million left, but needs several more environmental approvals to establish an open-cast mine (pictured) which once in production will be Europe's largest producing 500,000oz/year.

Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS)(AIM:NUS) is to raise approximately US$100 million (C$98.1 million*) through a private placement of common shares to fund the development of its first project, Solwara 1, in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea. The placing will involve the issue of approximately 39 million shares to a number of investors at a price of CAD$2.52 (US$2.58) per share. Nautilus President and CEO Steve Rogers said the private placement would provide funds for the construction of the seafloor resource production system, which initially will be deployed at Solwara 1 – the company's first deepwater copper and gold project.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 30, 2011) - Empire Mining Corporation (TSX VENTURE:EPC) ("Empire") is pleased to provide an update on the Demirtepe Project in western Turkey where drilling by Empire has consistently encountered significant grades and intervals of copper-gold-silver and molybdenum skarn mineralization in the Main Zone, including Discovery Hole DTH-001 which intersected2.02% copper, 0.96 g/t gold and 21.64 g/t silver over 47.35 m from 112.2 m to 159.55 m, including 8.0 m of 9.1% copper, 4.68 g/t gold and 95.3 g/t silver.