Emerging from a short and distort saga awash in cash, Silvercorp Metals on Monday announced the acquisition of SX Gold, a mining concern controlled by the Luoyang city government in northeastern China's Henan province for $22.7 million. Earlier this month the company, the largest silver miner in China, increased its quarterly dividend by 25% to 2.5 cents, after reporting a big jump in second-quarter profit and record cash flows. The stellar financial results came after a forensic accounting report showed no truth to allegations of $1 billion in accounting fraud at the company which was first alleged on September 2 by shortsellers that had built up a massive position in the stock.

Graff Diamonds Ltd., the jewelry retailer whose founder twice set records buying gems at auction, plans to use funds from a proposed share sale to add stores in Asia as the region’s demand for luxury goods grows. The company plans to open outlets in Macau and Hangzhou, the largest city of Zhejiang province in eastern China, next year, Laurence Graff, 73, the chairman and founder of the London-based company said in a Nov. 18 interview with Bloomberg TV. The retailer has 32 stores worldwide including in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei, according to its website.

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.

Brandon Lloyd Gray, a 26-year-old miner critically injured at Hecla Mining's Lucky Friday mine on November 17, succumbed to his injuries early Saturday morning with his family at his side. Lucky Friday is an underground silver, lead, and zinc mine located in the Coeur d’Alene Mining District in northern Idaho. Gray, a miner since 2008, had been working for Cementation Inc. since February 2011, a company that is under contract for the construction of the mine’s #4 Shaft. “We are deeply saddened by Brandon’s passing,” said Phil Baker, President and Chief Executive Officer in a released 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.

TORONTO, Nov. 18, 2011 /CNW/ - Guyana Goldfields Inc. (TSX: GUY) ("GGI" or "the Company") is pleased to announce today that it has signed a Mineral Agreement ("MA") with the Government of Guyana and has received the Mining License for the Aurora Gold Project, as previously promised through its Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") agreement with the Guyanese Government (see press release dated October 5, 2011). This is the first large-scale mining license to be issued in the gold sector in Guyana since 1991.

TORONTO, Nov. 18, 2011 /CNW/ - Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited ("Agnico-Eagle") (NYSE & TSX: AEM) and Grayd Resource Corporation ("Grayd") (TSX-V: GYD & OTCQX: GYDRF) announced today that 91,228,900 common shares (the "Shares") of Grayd, representing approximately 94.77% of the outstanding Shares on a fully-diluted basis, have been validly deposited pursuant to the offer (the "Offer") made by Agnico-Eagle to acquire all of the issued and outstanding Shares. All conditions of the Offer have been satisfied and the Offer has now expired and will not be extended. Agnico-Eagle has taken up all deposited Shares and will pay for such deposited Shares not later thanNovember 23, 2011.

International Business Times reports that the Afghan mining ministry is leaning heavily towards two state-owned Indian mining firms to develop the country's massive Hajigak iron ore mine: "Afghanistan's minister of mines Wahidullah Shahrani said Steel Authority of  India  Ltd. (SAIL) and mineral giant NMDC Ltd. were leading the pack of overseas companies from Canada, US and Iran. A third Indian company, Ispat Alloys, was also included in the shortlist."
The article says a SAIL-led consortium has bid for all four Hajigak iron ore blocks, and that the Karzai-led government is giving preference to companies that could set up a steel plant. The contract is estimated to be worth some $6 billion.