Is the trade war a catalyst for gold?

Mining investments could reach $2.8 billion in the Philippines this year if Chinese investors proceed with plans to jointly develop mining projects in the country, a senior mining official said Tuesday. There is a good chance that an initial target of $1.4 billion could be doubled if Chinese investors follow through in the last quarter on investments they have expressed interest in, Mines and Geosciences Bureau director Leo Jasareno said.

Chinese business leaders have warned of an investment strike over a decision by Treasurer Wayne Swan to impose a two-stage foreign approval process for resource exploration and mining.

London copper prices rose 1.3% to $8,869.50 a tonne n Tuesday on reports that China could bolster Italy's flagging economy by buying its bonds. In the previous session, copper – considered a good indicator of economic activity – was dragged to a one-month low after Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest producer, said some of its clients in the United States and Europe have asked to cancel orders. Italy has asked China to make "significant" purchases of Italian debt, the Financial Times reported on its website on Monday, saying that the chairman of China Investment Corp, headed up a delegation to Rome last week. Meanwhile Greek workers threatened to sabotage a new property tax, a last-ditch effort by the government to please international lenders and the US treasury secretary flies to Poland to meet with EU finance ministers on the Greek crisis.

Shares in China-focused miner Silvercorp Metals slumped over 7% on Monday after British Columbia security regulators said they were joining the investigation into an anonymous letter accusing the company of a $1.3 billion fraud. Silvercorp was forced on Friday 2 September 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 after the news broke and Monday's drop brings year to date losses close to 40% despite the firm's ongoing buyback programme.

Asian and Australian markets were down on Monday. The Shanghai Stock Exchange was down -0.03%; the Nikkei tumbled -2.31% and the Hang Seng Index fell -4.21%. The S&P ASX 200 was also down by -3.72%. Commodities were all down due to worries about the Euro Zone crisis and concern about sluggish worldwide growth. Copper was off -1.8% to US$8,665/ton.

Reuters reports prices of most rare earth elements – used in consumer electronics, defence and green energy industries – have risen since Wednesday after of local government crackdown on mining, with three major producers slated for closure. The news follows an announcement from the EU that it is building a stockpile of a variety of REEs and that a high-level meeting of officials from Europe, the US and Japan will take place in Washington early next month to discuss supply security. The price of some REEs such as samarium oxide used in jet fighter electrical systems has increased 25-fold in just three years.

China will eventually become a net importer of aluminum but the timing of this shift is uncertain, the chief executive of Rio Tinto Alcan said Thursday.

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.