Silver

A day after reports that the Canadian federal police have joined the investigation into who may be behind an anonymous letter alleging fraud at Silvercorp Metals from an apparent short seller, shares in the company were racing ahead 10% in brisk noon trade on Thursday. Silvercorp was forced last week Friday to make public the letter 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 10% after the news broke, but is now up a net 8.7%, helped along the way by an influential investment site that in rather dramatic fashion asks whether Silvercorp is the "perfect stock."

Bloomberg reports Silvercorp Metals was contacted by a Canada police unit called the Integrated Market Enforcement Team on Wednesday offering to help find the person behind an anonymous letter alleging a “potential $1.3 billion accounting fraud” at the company. Silvercorp Metals was forced on Friday to make public the letter, also sent to the Ontario Securities Commission, presumably from a shorter of the company's stock as it was also disclosed at the time that someone had built up a short position of some 23 million shares over the preceding two months. The firm with projects in China and Canada plunged 10% after the news broke, but has since regained much of the lost ground.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 7, 2011) - Columbus Silver Corporation (TSX VENTURE:CSC) ("Columbus Silver") has entered into a memorandum of understanding (the "MOU") under which the publicly-listed U.S. company Santa Fe Gold Corporation (OTCBB:SFEG) ("Santa Fe") has conditionally agreed to acquire all of its outstanding common shares ("Shares") for CDN$0.20 per share in cash (the "Acquisition"). If successful, the Acquisition will be completed as a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia).

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 7, 2011) - Astral Mining Corporation (TSX VENTURE:AA)(TSX VENTURE:AA.WT)(PINK SHEETS:AAMJF)(FRANKFURT:A7DA) ("Astral" or "the Company") is very pleased to announce commencement of diamond drilling on its 4,168ha Los Crestones gold-silver project, located within the Sierra Madre gold-silver belt of western Mexico in Sinaloa state. Three parallel vein/breccia zones, named Corona, Bohemia and Indio will be tested in this first-ever drilling program at Los Crestones. Astral plans to complete a minimum of 2,500m of HQ and NTW sized diamond core drilling during the program using a highly mobile diamond drill supplied by Energold Drilling Mexico.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 6, 2011) - Entrée Gold Inc. (TSX:ETG)(NYSE Amex:EGI)(FRANKFURT:EKA) ("Entrée" or the "Company") has received assay results from three additional deep diamond drill holes on the 100% owned Ann Mason copper molybdenum porphyry deposit in the Yerington district of Nevada. Drilling continues to return long intercepts (448 metres to 814 metres) averaging from 0.35% to 0.43% copper equivalent ("CuEq"). Higher grade mineralization, including intervals greater than 0.60% CuEq, is present in these holes, as shown in Table 1 below. Hole locations and cross sections can be viewed at www.entreegold.com.

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.