Silver

Northgate Minerals announced on Wednesday that it will acquire Primero Mining for $370 million. The new company, which will have a combined market capitalization of approximately $1.2 billion, will be a mid-tier gold producer and will tie together the San Dimas mine in Mexico; the Fosterville and Stawell gold mines in Australia; and the Young-Davidson gold development project in Ontario.

Federal authorities have shut down 12 mines in northern Mexico after inspections spurred by an accident last month that claimed the lives of 14 workers, the labor department said. Inspectors have already visited 41 of the 100 sites on their list, the department said in a statement.

Precious metals miner Fresnillo plans to double output at its newly opened Saucito mine in central Mexico by 2015 or 2016 in a second phase of expansion, a company executive said on Tuesday. With the project and other expansion plans, Fresnillo is looking to overtake BHP Billiton, which produces more silver as a by-product from other metals, as the world's biggest overall silver producer. The company's eponymous mine is the world's largest primary silver mine which has been in near continuous operation since 1550.

Shares in Vancouver-based Great Panther Silver recovered early losses to trade in positive territory by midday Tuesday after the company reported disappointing silver output at its two 100%-owned silver and gold mines in Mexico. The counter opened down more than 3% before turning positive after announcing a 6% drop in silver production as a result of falling grades and unsold inventories at its Guanajuato operation which the company ascribes to an oversupply of concentrate on the world market. Silver Panther is still up 35% over the month after investors picked up the stock following record first quarter earnings.

NEW DELHI: There was no change in the pattern of trade in the bullion market today as silver tumbled by Rs 1,320 to Rs 53,200 per kg, while gold added another Rs 165 to Rs 22,810 per 10 grams in line with a similar trend in overseas markets. Silver coins

Unrest and strikes in Indonesia, Chile, Australia and Africa, a shortage of skilled workers in North America and rising labour costs all over the globe are quickly becoming the most serious downsides of a mining boom that started almost a decade ago. While a historically high overall jobless rate is masking spiking wages in the resources sector in the US, workers in emerging markets are shutting down operations of mining companies deemed not to be sharing record profits fairly.

The destruction of Mongolia's grasslands to access a wealth of mineral riches has sparked an anti-mining movement led by a nomadic herder who says force can be used to bring polluting firms to heel. Tsetsegee Munkhbayar is the head of Fire Nation, a small group on a crusade to put an end to what they say are irresponsible mining operations in the resource-rich landlocked country that are threatening their livelihoods.

After an initial 5% jump, shares in Arabian American Development Co was flat at midday on Wednesday on four times usual volumes following news of a $37m injection into the Texas-based company's Saudi mine by a fund controlled by the League of Arab States. Shareholders in the 44-year old Nasdaq-listed company saw the value of their investment rise a cool $107m as a result of the transaction. The gold, silver and copper mine in a Yemen border province is the only non-government mine in the Saudi kingdom and is scheduled to begin production early next year.

Canada's biggest precious metals stocks were up an average 5.5% in late afternoon trade on Tuesday led by Endeavour Silver and Silvercorp Metals which both added around 12%. First Majestic Silver was up 9% and Silver Wheaton 6%. The index with an average market capitalization of US$7.7bn was outperforming a lacklustre broader market with bellwethers Barrick and Goldcorp also making substantial gains. Weak economic news from Europe, lingering concerns about the Greek debt crisis and media reports that China may raise interest rates have lured investors back to precious metals.