Shares of Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) were down almost 17% at midday Wednesday after management announced it was suspending operations for safety reasons at its Goldex mine in Val D’Or, Quebec, effective immediately. AEM’s plunge led similar declines across both gold and silver miners.

Gold and silver prices moved higher in early morning trading Wednesday but reversed course and were in negative territory as morning trading drew to an end. The Federal Reserve reported that the September Consumer Price Index rose at its slowest month-over-month pace in three months — 0.3% — while September U.S. housing starts rose a greater-than-expected 15% annual rate.

Spot gold was down 0.5% at midday Wednesday, having hit a high of $1,662.20 and a low of $1,642.40. Spot gold was bid at $1,646.70 with an ask price of $1,647.70 at 11:30 a.m., while the London p.m. reference price fix came in at $1,652.50, according to Kitco market data.

Spot silver was down 1.9% and trading at $31.43 Bid, $31.53 Ask, having hit a morning high of $32.24 and a low of $31.18. Wednesday’s reference price was set at $31.97 in the London a.m.

In stock exchange trading, gold and silver trusts were sliding lower.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (AMEX:GLD) was nearly 1% lower.
• The iShares Gold Trust (AMEX:IAU) was just more than 1% lower.
• The iShares Silver Trust (AMEX:SLV) was down 2.2%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were headed lower as well.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (AMEX:GDX) was around 3.4% lower.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (AMEX:GDXJ) was more than 3.6% lower.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (AMEX:SIL) was down about 2.5%.

Shares of gold miners were heading south, with AEM leading the dive.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines was down a whopping 17.5%.
• Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was down more than 2.3%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was nearly 3.5% lower.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was more than 3.5% lower.
• NovaGold Resources (USA) (AMEX:NG) was showing losses between 2.2% and 2.7%.

Silver miners’ shares were down sharply for the third consecutive morning.

• Coeur D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was about 2.5% lower.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) also was down more than 4.6%.
• Pan American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ:PAAS) was 2.15% lower.
• Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW) was down more than 3.65%.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SSRI) was about 5.7% lower.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.