Due to euro jitters and the U.S. credit downgrade, investment demand in Europe for gold jumped 135% to a record quarterly value of €4.6 billion. On Thursday the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report for Q3 2011 was released. "The increase in overall investment demand was all the more impressive given the sharp gold price correction in September, which encouraged a wave of profit taking among bar and coin investors. Virtually all markets saw strong double-digit growth in demand for gold bars and coins," said the World Gold Council in a statement.

New $100 bills are being introduced that host a variety of security features to make them harder to counterfeit. Paper is out. The bills are now made from a single piece of polymer, which makes the bill more durable and gives it a smooth texture, except for some key features that are raised. Within the transparent areas are complex holographic features, which can be viewed from both either side of the bill.

Scientists have succeeded in making the world's lightest material, so light it can float on top of dandeloin fluff, and they made it out of nickel. The metal used matters less than the structure. The material, developed by researchers at HRL Laboratories, LLC, is made out of micro-lattices that maximize strength in relation to the amount of material used. The structure is actually 99.99% air. Nickel was used by the researchers since it was the easiest material to work with.

Hathor Exploration's (TSE:HAT) board recommends that shareholders accept Rio Tinto's (LON:RIO) all-cash offer of Can$654 million. Rio Tinto increased its all-cash offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Hathor to $4.70 per share. The offer represents a premium to Cameco Corporation's previous offer of Can$4.50 per common share.

During Q1 Implats production fell 12% due mostly to planned operational outages. Gross platinum production was 388,000 oz compared to 441,000 during the same quarter a year ago. Palladium also declined in line with platinum, coming in at 251,000 oz compared to 285,000 year ago. Rhodium declined by just 7% from 53,000 oz compared to 57,000 oz. Costs also rose during Q1. "Group unit cost per platinum ounce produced excluding share-based payments rose by 10.8% from the previous quarter a year ago primarily due to the recent impact of the 10% wage settlement and the continuation of high electricity tariff increases," said the company in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal profiles a Western Australian mine worker who runs underground drills in remote mining towns.

Gregory A. Lang, former President of Barrick Gold of North America, accepted the position of president and chief executive officer of NovaGold Resources (TSE:NG). He starts in January. NovaGold also announced its intention to sell its 50% stake in the Galore Creek project it owns with Teck Resources, and to spin off its Ambler project, in order to focus on the company's flagship Donlin Gold project in Alaska. Markets liked the news, which was announced today. NovaGold Resources shares jumped 27% to $11.42 a share in mid-day trading.

Popular commentator and finance professor, Larry Lang, didn't want anyone to hear his real thoughts about China's economy, but his Oct. 22 speech in Shenyang City is making the rounds.

Integra Gold (CVE:ICG) was up 20% to 36 cents a share after the company announcing a 40% increase to its Lamaque resource. The company announced the findings in a consultant's report, the Estimate of Resources and Modeling of the Triangle Sector, for the Lamaque Gold Project, located in Val d'Or, Quebec.

The Alberta oilsands and Bakken oil fields in North Dakota put on a good show 278 km above earth. Ken Paulman, writing for Midwest Energy News, conducted some cartographic detective work on a video that went viral, a time-lapse video of the earth's surface shot from the International Space Station.

Uranium Resources, a Texas-based in-situ uranium miner, says that cost increased in 3Q due to challenging drilling conditions and higher equipment costs. "This resulted in fewer than desired drilled holes and about two additional months of exploration time,” said Don Ewigleben, President and CEO of Uranium Resources in a statement. Operating expenses were $133,753 for 3Q compared with $67,260 in 2010. The overall loss from operations was $2,827,097, down from $3,730,998 a year ago when the company had a $1.37 million provision for a legal settlement.

Working as a mining machine operator is the fifth deadliest occupation in the U.S., just above policing but less dangerous than fishing or farming. In August the U.S. Bureau of Labor released a compilation of occupations with highest fatality rates. Fishing had the highest fatality rate in 2010 with 116 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers, while mining machine operators suffered 23 fatalities, or 38.7 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers. The fatality rate for police and sheriff's patrol officers was 18.