Golds, base metals end mixed

The broad market attracted more buyers than sellers over the July 9-15 report period, causing the composite index to finish ahead 26.48 points at 7,166.08.

The TSX gold index reversed 2.34 points as the yellow metal itself slipped US$2.45 in overseas markets. Gold was fixed at US$343 per oz. on July 16, and producers here at home settled at 166.10.

Kinross Gold fared the worst of the Big Three, falling 69 to $8.15, followed by Placer Dome, which eased back 2 to $16.77. At the period’s beginning, Placer announced plans to take over an unlisted Australian firm as a means to acquire the North Mara open-pit gold mine in northern Tanzania. Placer will pay US$255 million for the company, as well as assume US$43 million in project debt. Barrick Gold bucked the trend, rising 7 to $23.77.

Gabriel Resources was dragged into the limelight once again as a result of misgivings expressed by the Prime Minister of Romania over the company’s proposed Rosia Montana gold mine. The objection, in turn, convinced RBC Capital Markets to retract a bought-deal financing for $28 million worth of Gabriel treasury shares, offering instead to sell them on a best-efforts basis. Gabriel finished the period at $2.50, down 40 on a volume of 10.6 million shares.

The most active issue was Eldorado Gold, which fell 9 on a volume of 20.8 million shares; then Bema Gold, which rose 14 as nearly 16.8 million changed hands. Neither company released any news, though both have made headlines of late: Eldorado, for having obtained a positive environmental certificate at its proposed Kisladag open-pit gold mine in Turkey; and Bema, for having intersected more high gold tenors at its Kupol property in Russia’s Far East and for subsequently arranging a $5-million flow-through private placement for its high-grade Monument Bay property in northern Manitoba.

Base metals put in another solid performance in London rings, led by nickel, which rose US9 to a fix of US$4.03 per lb. on July 16; copper tacked on two pennies, settling at US79 per lb.; and zinc added a penny, putting it at US38 per lb. Lead remained unchanged at US24 per lb.

Producers, in turn, rose with their product: Inco, which recorded the largest gain, jumped 84; Teck Cominco‘s B-series ascended 55; Noranda climbed 45; Falconbridge added 25; Aur Resources rose 22; and Sherritt International gained 6. Conversely, LionOre Mining fell 18 to $5.45, while Ivanhoe Mines slipped 4 to $3.47.

Overall, the TSE’s diversified metals and mining sub-group rose 1.89 points, or 1.5% in value, to 132. Holding the index back was Cameco, which slipped $1.73 on a volume of 807,200 shares.

Junior Nuinsco Resources was the largest percentage gainer, jumping 46.6%, to 22, for a gain of 7. Exploration has resumed at the company’s Prairie Creek carbonatite complex, near Marathon, Ont.