Kootenay Silver nearly triples financing after acquiring two new projects in Mexico

Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX:EDR)(NYSE:EXK)(FRANKFURT:EJD)announced today that silver and gold production from the Company's two operating silver mines in Mexico, the Guanacevi Mine in Durango State and the Guanajuato Mine in Guanajuato State, continued to rise year-on-year in the Third Quarter, 2011. Silver production was up 8% to 858,738 ounces (oz) and gold production was up 7% to 4,926 oz compared to the Third Quarter, 2010. Revenues jumped 93% for the quarter to US$38.8 million thanks to both higher silver and gold production and higher realized metal prices.

World energy consumption is set to grow 53% by 2035 and most of that energy will be coming from fossil fuels, according to a study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. While energy consumption will grow slowly in the U.S. and Europe, countries like China and India that are growing their industrial base will be gobbling up more and more energy.

Agnico Eagle's production (NYSE:AEM) totaled 265,978 ounces, an increase of approximately 11% over the second quarter 2011 level of 239,328 ounces due to improved performance at Kittila Mine and Meadowbank Mine. "For the first nine months of 2011, the Company produced a record 757,668 ounces of gold. This compares with the previous nine month record set in the first nine months of 2010 when gold production was 731,138 ounces," said the company in a news release. Last month Agnico Eagle acquired Grayd Resources for $275 million.

Edmonton Journal reports that regional planning directors are considering LRT, light rail transport, to solve traffic jams along Highway 63. As more workers pour up north to work on the oil sands projects, workers are becoming snarled in traffic since the roads lack capacity. "[Officials] say something needs to be done about mobility issues that could impede the region's economic growth, with some estimates indicating an hour of traffic congestion costs oil companies $20,000 to $50,000."

Crystallex International Corporation (TSX:KRY)(OTCQB:CRYXF) ("Crystallex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a wholly-owned subsidiary (the "Issuer") proposes to complete a best efforts private placement offering (the "Offering") of up to 120,000 units (the "Units") at a price of US$1,000 per Unit for aggregate proceeds of up to US$120 million. Each Unit will consist of one face value US$1,000 principal amount senior secured note (the "Notes") bearing simple interest at a rate per annum to be determined payable on maturity or redemption and one contingent value right (the "CVRs").

Ever since Friday's New York Times report saying the US State Department assigned an important environmental impact study of the Keystone XL pipeline to Cardno Entrix, a company with financial ties to the pipeline operator TransCanada, in contravention of federal law, opponents of the project have shifted the focus of their opposition to allegations of conflict of interest and corruption. Two prominent names on the political left and in the green movement Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben put it most bluntly: Obama's plan to transport oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast reeks of cronyism and it is quite possibly the biggest potential scandal of the Obama years. TransCanada officials meanwhile appear to have been caught off guard by the vociferous protests that weeks of Keystone hearings that ended on Friday have elicited, pointing out that TransCanada won approval for a similar pipeline three years ago with little opposition.

The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes has advised Crystallex International Corp. that proceedings in its $3.8 billion case against Venezuela for nationalizing gold-mining assets has begun. The Toronto-listed company's main asset is its interest in the Las Cristinas gold project located in Bolivar State, Venezuela. Crystallex also holds interests in the Tomi and La Victoria mines in Venezuela and on Friday closed down 70% from its 52-week high. The stock was delisted in from the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year. Toronto-listed Rusoro is the only large producing gold miner operating in Venezuela and the country does not feature in the top 20 global gold producing states.

News reports on Saturday say Rio Tinto's Zimbabwe subsidiary Murowa Diamonds has ceded 51% of its equity to comply with a new law that requires Zimbabweans to own the majority of foreign companies. Rio Tinto says on its website it has completed a feasibility study and received environmental go-ahead to expand Murowa production 8-fold at a cost of $200 million. Saturday's report cast serious doubts on whether the investment, which requires foreign capital, would now be made. It appeared in recent weeks as if Zimbabwe was soft-pedalling the indigenization laws, but Rio Tinto's capitulation has now put pressure on Impala Platinum, struggling to hold onto its $20 billion worth of reserves in the country.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican senator representing South Carolina, urged the Obama administration to support the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline. Graham, who was speaking at a political event on Wednesday, said that if the U.S. rejects the pipeline, it would be ". . . one of the biggest energy policy blunders in our history." The senator said that the pipeline has the potential to create thousands of jobs, and rejecting the development would have serious consequences for Obama's chances at re-election.