VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire -12/20/11)- Silvercorp Metals Inc. (“Silvercorp” or the “Company”) (TSX: SVM- News)(NYSE: SVM - News) has been advised that Chinese law enforcement agents have opened a criminal case to investigate and find the creators of false and fraudulent reports by anonymous parties such as IFRA, Alfred Little and others, attacking Silvercorp and its Chinese subsidiaries.

In September 2011, the Company also filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court charging defendants Chinastockwatch.com, Jerry Katz, Alfredlittle.com, Alfred Little, Simon Moore, and several “John Doe” defendants with spreading “false, defamatory and fraudulent” information about Silvercorp on the Internet and in letters to the media and regulators. It has also filed two separate actions in British Columbia, Canada.

Even with an independent KPMG forensic report reaffirming the Company’s business in the face of a short and distort attack, the Company is still receiving odd and disconcerting communications from anonymous callers.

On November 1, 2011, someone claimed to be Peter Li, representing a US based investment fund (who spoke Mandarin with a Cantonese accent), telephoned (using a Guangzhou phone number) sales department of Henan Found. From the caller’s odd and aggressive behavior, Silvercorp believes the caller was trying to falsify information that he could use to attack Silvercorp in an out of context audio recorded conversation; the Company understands that similar tactics were commonly used in Alfred Little and IFRA reports in attacking other Chinese companies.

In November 2011, a mining engineer at Silvercorp’s Beijing office received several emails from an employee of the Singapore branch of Guidepoint Global, LLC, who stated his name was “Hang Ming”. Hang Ming asked the mining engineer to work as their agent at RMB 2,000 per hour. Hang Ming wrote in his email that he received a request from an analyst named “Soldo Marko” who works for a US based hedge fund. Hang Ming asked the engineer to have a telephone interview with Soldo Marko in a way, we believe, to attain insider information on Silvercorp for trading. The Company understands that the FBI has previously investigated agents of Guidepoint Global and subsequently charged such agents for tipping confidential information of publically traded companies to hedge funds.

About Silvercorp Metals Inc.

Silvercorp Metals Inc. is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and mining of high-grade silver-related mineral properties in China and Canada. Silvercorp is the largest primary silver producer in China through the operation of the four silver-lead-zinc mines at the Ying Mining District in the Henan Province of China. Silvercorp recently acquired the XBG and XHP silver-gold-lead-zinc mines nearby the Ying Mining District in Henan Province, further consolidating the region. Silvercorp has commenced production at its second production foothold in China, the BYP gold-lead-zinc project in Hunan Province, and is currently constructing the mill and related facilities in preparation for mining at the GC silver-lead-zinc project in Guangdong Province. In Canada, Silvercorp is preparing an application for a Small Mine Permit for the Silvertip high grade silver-lead-zinc mine project in northern British Columbia to provide a further platform for growth and geographic diversification. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: SVM - News) and Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: SVM - News) and are included as a component of the S&P/TSX Composite and the S&P/TSX Global Mining Indexes.

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Silvercorp Metals Inc.: Chinese law enforcement agents open criminal case to investigate creators of falsified reports

JP Morgan now has a stake of 1.4 million shares or 10.9%, jumping ahead of the former dominant shareholder, Goldman Sachs. The LME which handles some 80% of global trade in metals futures said it has received  more than 10 expressions of interest from potential bidders.

The LME last month cleared and matched its first gold trade  and the 134-year old exchange – one of the last bastions of open outcry trading – is looking to start trading silver next year.

Reuters quotes a source at another LME member: ”The fact that JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are involved in all the aspects of the LME, brokerage, warehousing and now as shareholders, clearly that throws up some challenges with regards to how the exchange wants to manage that in terms of its conflicts.”

Bloomberg reports the LME is facing increased competition from other exchanges. Trading in contracts such as copper, aluminum and gold on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 43 percent last year compared with the 7.4 percent jump on the LME. The LME started so-called mini-contracts in copper, aluminum and zinc in Singapore in February to take advantage of more demand in Asia.

]]> http://www.houstongoldnews.com/gold/talk-of-conflicts-of-interest-as-lme-shareholders-jockey-for-position-in-takeover-battle/feed/ 0 http://www.houstongoldnews.com/gold/selling-to-the-rich-look-to-the-us-not-china-or-india/ http://www.houstongoldnews.com/gold/selling-to-the-rich-look-to-the-us-not-china-or-india/#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:28:00 +0000 admin http://www.houstongoldnews.com/uncategorized/selling-to-the-rich-look-to-the-us-not-china-or-india/ A new report from research firm TNS could have implications for mining.

A survey of affluent households around the world — defined as greater than $100,000 — found that 80% of the world’s wealthy live in Western countries.

TNS’s Global Affluenty Investor study conducted interviews across 24 markets including China, Brazil and India.

It found that while growth in the BRIC countries is starting to impact personal fortunes, the number of people considered affluent is far greater in the United States. In the US, 27% are considered affluent, compared to around 1% in China and India. That translates to over 31 million affluent households in the States versus 3 million each in India and China.

On the other hand, those in developing countries that do have a lot of money, now have as much or more as their counterparts in the West, the study found. The UAE and India are among the top five countries where the affluent have more than $1m investable assets on average, alongside Singapore and Hong Kong. The only Europeans to feature in this top five are the Swedish, while the UK and France are the least likely in Europe to have these levels of investable assets.

TNS’s findings also demonstrate regional contrasts in terms of what the affluent actually invest in. While the Chinese, Indian and German affluent are keen investors in precious metals (cited by 35%, 33% and 23% of respondents respectively), this falls to just 3% in Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands, and 2% in Denmark and Israel.

The Globe and Mail noted the results challenge hopes that the boom economies of Asia can supplant an ailing U.S. as the world’s consumer of last resort, and keep global growth ticking over.

The prices of mined commodities like iron ore, nickel, copper and rare earths are increasingly dependent on the strength of developing countries, which need the materials as feedstock for manufacturing everything from new homes to cellular phones and electric cars.