Treasure hunt madness after $20,000 diamond falls from the sky

Chinese companies and investors are stepping up their purchases of industrial commodities such as copper, in a show of confidence in the global economy that stands in contrast to the turmoil in western markets. The wave of buying is providing support for metals and minerals prices after commodities prices fell this month at worries about a double-dip. Senior executives at trading houses, mining companies and banks said Chinese consumers had used the recent drop in prices to rebuild stocks.

WINNEMUCCA, NEVADA--(Marketwire - Sept. 27, 2011) - Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. (NYSE Amex:PZG)(TSX:PZG)(FRANKFURT:P6G)(WKN:A0HGKQ)("Paramount Gold") announced today new high grade assay results from 10 core holes drilled on its 100% owned San Miguel Project in northwestern Mexico. Four holes drilled on the San Miguel Vein returned multiple high-grade gold and silver intercepts including 9.2 meters grading 5.56 g/T of gold and 120.14 g/T of silver and 21.95 meters grading 2.79 g/T of gold and 325.07 g/T of silver. These results are expected to upgrade inferred resources to higher categories and improve the average grade of the resource in this area.

Stillwater Mining Company on Monday became one of the first miners to find funding drying up following the punishment meted out to precious metals recently, when it announced after market close that it is withdrawing its proposed offering of senior notes due to the "dramatic deterioration of the capital markets during the past week." Stillwater said it still has enough funds for the $165 million net cash portion of the Peregrine transaction. The counter shed just over 1% of its value on the NYSE on Monday on a generally positive day for the markets, but is down 35% since last Monday. Stillwater is the only US producer of palladium and platinum and is the largest primary producer of platinum group metals outside of South Africa and Russia. Platinum was trading at $1,565/oz on Monday, down from a year-high of $1,916/oz.

The Scotsman reports a British cargo ship carrying silver worth £135 million has been located deep in the North Atlantic 70 years after it was sunk by a Nazi torpedo, paving the way for the largest ever haul of precious metal from the sea bed. Marine archaeologists from Odyssey Marine Exploration, a shipwreck salvage company based in Florida, found the SS Gairsoppa resting almost three miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean and in international waters about 300 miles off the coast of Ireland. 200 tonnes of silver stashed in its hold. Under a salvage agreement with the British government, Odyssey will be able to keep 80% of the cargo.

A Kamloops BC TV station reports workers at Teck Resources Highland Valley Copper mine have voted 99.5% in favour of striking if necessary to back wage and benefit demands. The 1,100 unionized workers voted Sunday, less than a week before their contract is due to expire. The Highland Valley Copper mine is the largest copper mine in Canada and one of the largest copper mining and concentrating operations in the world. Teck announced last week a $475 million upgrade of its 40-year-old Highland Valley mill to bring it in line with the mine's 2025 end of life, and a separate $210 million investment at a BC lead and zinc operation.

A statement put out by Ivanhoe Mines on Monday telling investors that its Oyu Tolgoi project remains on track and pooh-poohing rumours about the Mongolian government reneging on the deal that Ivanhoe and partner Rio Tinto spent five years negotiating did little to ease the fears of investors. By lunchtime Ivanhoe had plummeted more than 21.3%, crashing through the $10 billion market valuation level and taking the week's losses to 33%, with the number of shares changing hands already exceeding the daily average. Ivanhoe also appeared to have patched things up with Rio Tinto on Monday after it said last week it's unhappy that the world's number two miner told investors about possible delays to the mega-project.

The Blue Mountains Gazette reports the Australian Coal Association says $1.3 billion in proposed government compensation would delay by only one year the premature closure of four of the 21 mines that an industry survey found were under threat from the government's carbon tax. On top of the carbon tax set to kick in mid-2012, Australian miners also have to contend with the new minerals resource rent tax set at an effective 22.5% rate on the so-called super-profits of the extractive industries.

Gold for December delivery dropped $40, or 2.5%, to just under the $1,600 an ounce level in midday trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday, but had recovered from sharp losses which saw the metal reach a low of $1,535 shortly after the open. Talk that a bailout for the Eurozone could top 2 trillion euros failed to boost the demand for gold as an inflation hedge. Gold has now declined more than $300 since setting an intraday record of $1,923.10/oz in the second week of September, but is well clear of its year low of just under $1,300/oz and most analysts remain positive about gold's long term trend.

Workers in Australia and Norway are getting pay raises, and they are getting paid for staying on the job, not greater productivity.