Another explorer handsomely rewarded in Burkina Faso

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.

The Australian reports BHP Mitsubishi's decision to bypass a thoroughly resistant troika of unions by seeking a direct employee ballot on a new three-year enterprise agreement takes the world's number one miner into deeply uncharted industrial relations waters. The move comes after nine months of fruitless negotiations and 11 different offers – including annual pay rises of 5% and a $15,000 bonus – all of which were rejected by the unions which will now resume strikes. The six mines operated by BHP Mistubishi have a combined output capacity of more than 58 million tonnes per year of mostly metallurgical coal, representing about a fifth of annual global trade.

Gold for December delivery – the most actively traded contract – fell 2.4%  or $45, to $1,815 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange by lunchtime on Monday failing to capitalize on its safe-haven status as investors were forced to raise cash to cover losses on equity markets. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered another day of heavy selling, declining more than 120 points in volatile trade while European and Asian markets were battered after the deputy finance minister of Greece said the debt-laden country has cash to operate only until next month. Germany was readying measure to protect its banks against a Greek default while France's financial institutions were downgraded because of its exposure.

Stornoway Diamond Corporation involved in the discovery of over 200 kimberlites in seven Canadian diamond districts will join S&P/TSX SmallCap Index at the end of the week, a move which should increase the appeal of the counter among institutional investors. It's a new milestone for Stornoway which flourished under the leadership of Eira Thomas, the renowned diamond explorer whose spectacular success in the 90s transformed Canadian diamond mining. Thomas left in August following the acquisition of Stornoway's lead asset – the 100%-owned Renard Diamond Project – on track to become Quebec's first diamond mine.

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.

Newmont Mining Corp.'s Indonesian unit said on Monday it is in talks with a worker union and local government to solve a protest that blocked access to its copper and gold mine last week.

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Sep 12, 2011) - www.SignalWatcher.com provides members with proprietary analysis of over 10,000 stocks which is updated every day. Today, members can receive their complimentary stock analysis on Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE: SVM) and Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW). Sign up now on www.SignalWatcher.com to get your free reports on these stocks.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 12, 2011) - Confederation Minerals Ltd. ("Confederation") (TSX VENTURE:CFM) is pleased to report additional drill results from the on-going drilling program at the Newman Todd property in the Red Lake Gold District, Ontario. These results are from five holes, completed in wide spaced drilling along the Newman Todd Structure ("NTS"), another 11 holes have been completed and assays are pending. The highlight hole from the latest results returned 7.06 oz/ton (242.0 g/t) gold over 0.50 metre.

PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 12, 2011) - Paladin Energy Ltd ("Paladin" or "the Company") (TSX:PDN) (ASX:PDN)wishes to note that the Company's Board of Directors advise that financial close has been reached under the Langer Heinrich Project Finance Facility ("Facility"), and Paladin has submitted a drawdown notice for US$127.2M.