Silver

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 20, 2011) - Empire Mining Corporation (TSX VENTURE:EPC) ("Empire") is pleased to report the final assay results for the remaining drill holes from Phase I drilling at the Demirtepe copper-gold-silver-molybdenum project located in western Turkey, where drilling in the Main Zone has consistently intercepted significant shallow mineralization in every hole completed. The most recent assays include the following significant copper-gold-silver and molybdenum intersections

With the price of silver near 30-year highs, analysts and investors are beginning to question the underperformance of silver mining and streaming stocks.

Agnico Eagle Mines (TSE:AEM) announced on Monday that it had acquired Grayd Resources (CVE:GYD) for $275 million. Grayd is a junior exploration and development company with gold and silver projects in Mexico. Agnico said the offer price of $2.80 per Grayd share represents a premium of 65.7% to the volume weighted average price of Grayd shares on the TSX Venture Exchange for the 20-day period ended September 16, 2011.

Adelaide Now reports BHP Billiton wants to "future-proof" its massive Olympic Dam project, including using driverless haulage trucks and this week put out a recruitment ad for an executive to oversee the high-tech initiative. The system would mean operators can be in a control room on the site or even in the comfort of a city office hundreds of kilometres away. BHP Billiton is in the final stages of the approval process for the $30 billion expansion of its existing underground operation at Olympic Dam to create a new open pit mine that would be the worlds biggest – trucks will haul overburden 24/7 for five to six years just to reach the ore body. The combined operations would mine 72 Mt ore per year and would produce 750,000 tonnes refined copper, 19,000 tonnes uranium oxide, 800,000 gold ounces and 2.9 Moz of silver per year.

Research firm Metals Economics Group reports gold continues to be top exploration target accounting for more than 50% of global exploration of non-ferrous metals for the second consecutive year in 2011. Latin America is set continue to be the industry's favorite regional exploration destination in 2011, while Canada will remain the top overall country. Copper will account for roughly a fifth of 2011 nonferrous exploration budgets that is expected to exceed US$17 billion for expenditures related to precious and base metals, diamonds, uranium, and some industrial minerals. It represents an increase of about 50% from the 2010 total and a new all time high.

Speaking in Arequipa at Peru's premier mining conference industry executives said on Friday a drive by Peru's leftist president to raise mining royalties should not derail multibillion-dollar investments, but added that the viability of smaller, less efficient operations will be affected. Peru's Buenaventura and US-based Newmont said their $4.8 billion Conga mine, the most expensive mine in Peru's history, was on track to come on line in 2014 while others including Barrick Gold, Xstrata, Anglo American and Gold Fields reiterated their commitment to the country.

Silvercorp Metals Inc. says the anonymous fraud allegations that have hammered its share price are completely false, and the company is backing that view up by buying back its shares at low prices.

LONDON, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 15, 2011) - Trueclaim Exploration Inc. ("Trueclaim") (TSX VENTURE:TRM)(OTCQX:TRMNF) recently finished a field mapping and sampling program on its Richmond Basin Property located 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of the city of Globe and two hours by road east of Phoenix, AZ.

Embattled Silvercorp Metals on Wednesday was forced to respond by opening up its books after a second anonymous report which it believes comes from a group of shortsellers trying to drive down the company's share price emerged on the web. Ongoing investigations into the apparent shakedown are being conducted by the RCMP, the BC Securities Commission, the SEC and the FBI, the company said. Silvercorp was forced on Friday 2 September to make public the first fraud allegations and at the same time disclosed that someone had built up a short position of 23 million shares – more than 13% of the number outstanding. The firm with projects in China and Canada plunged after the news broke and year to date losses now top 46% despite the firm’s ongoing buyback programme and a 14.3% bounce by midday today in massive volumes.