US producers mixed over gold rally

Despite a rally in bullion prices, U.S. gold producers were a mixed bag during the April 24-30 report period.

Newmont Mining dove US73 to US$28.51 on a volume of 19.4 million shares, whereas AngloGold leaped US$1.10 to US$26.80 as 4.2 million shares crossed the floor. The latter reported a drop in quarterly earnings between the final three months of 2001 and the first three of 2002.

Meanwhile, Compania de Minas Buenaventura slipped US55 to US$26.66; Gold Fields climbed US27 to US$12.10; Durban Roodepoort Deep fell US32 to US$3.97; and Ashanti Goldfields dropped US15 to US$5.

After Newmont, Alcoa was the most active mining issue south of the border, sinking US$1.61 to US$34.03 on volume of 18 million shares. The aluminum titan increased its interest in Shibazaki Seisakusho, a Japanese manufacturer of plastic and aluminum bottle caps, to nearly 96%.

Among the copper heavyweights, Phelps Dodge fell US98 to US$35.80, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold‘s B series slipped US45 to US$17.76, and Southern Peru Copper fell US59 to US$14.45.

Anglo American rose a nickel to US$15.65 on rumours of its possible expansion in Chile by purchasing the copper assets of Exxon Mobil. The reported price tag: US$1.3 billion.