Base metal miners advance

Buoyed by renewed strength in base metals prices, particularly in the nickel market, most of the base metal majors made gains during the report period ended May 27.

Pechiney eased up 4 to US$14.05 as the French aluminum giant moved to convert its B shares into common shares, change its share capital into 1.26 billion euros, and turn the number of common shares to 82.6 million.

As for the rest: Phelps Dodge soared $2.37 to US$35.91; BHP Billiton rose 36 to US$11.31; Rio Tinto advanced $2.50 to US$77.50; Anglo American dropped 94 to US$13.74; Alcoa jumped $2.26 to US$24.41; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold powered ahead $1.91 to US$21.89; and CVRD rose 31 to US$29.57.

In the gold sector, Ashanti Goldfields was off 4 to US$7.53 despite the rumour that South African gold miner Randgold Resources was considering competing against AngloGold‘s existing takeover offer for the Ghanaian miner. AngloGold retreated $1.72 to US$27.94, while Randgold shed 12 to hit US$19.28.

Dropping $1.40 to US$26.34, Newmont Mining showed it was ready to play hardball with its lenders by offering up to US$219 million in cash, or US50 on the dollar, for all the outstanding notes and gold-hedge positions of its Yandal gold operations in Australia.

With gold backing away from the critical US$371-per-oz. resistance line, the rest of the U.S.-listed gold majors were mixed: Gold Fields was unchanged at US$11.70; Durban Deep slipped 19 to US$2.68; Harmony Gold retreated 17 to US$13.19; and Royal Gold rocketed $1.47 to hit US$21.52.