Miners rebound

The Toronto Stock Exchange weathered a politically tumultuous holiday-shortened report period, May 17-20, to end 128.91 higher at 9,452.19 points. The golds managed to claw back 3.56 points from the previous period’s big fall to finish at 171.61, while the yellow metal dropped US$1.25 to hit US$418 per oz. The diversified miners yo-yoed their way to a 9.6-point recovery to end at 275.69.

When it came to volume, Dynatec left the rest of the miners in the dust, with more than 15.6 million shares trading 13 higher to $1.17 on the back of more impressive drill results from behind the Levack No. 2 mine shaft, near Sudbury, Ont. Dynatec is partnered there with operator and 75% owner FNX Mining, which soared $2.43, or nearly 30%, to $10.88. Dynatec has also agreed to join in on FNX’s acquisition of TSX Venture-listed Aurora Platinum.

Goldcorp rebounded 81 to $16.24 as first-quarter profits jumped by 70% to $29.5 million, thanks to its acquisition of Wheaton River Minerals. Sales more than doubled to $122.8 million.

Ivanhoe Mines grabbed some of the spotlight, gaining early after the company narrowed its first-quarter loss by about 40% to US$19.6 million, owing mostly to higher copper production and prices. The shares stumbled late in the period after the company tabled plans to issue 15.75 million shares at $8 apiece to raise $126 million for exploration and development of its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project and the Nariin Sukhait coal project, both in Mongolia. Ivanhoe shed 38 to settle at $8.08 on around 7.6 million shares.

On the flip side, Bema Gold widened its first-quarter loss slightly to US$14.8 million, thanks mostly to the writedown of its net smelter royalty on the Lo Increible property in Venezuela. Bema fell 3 pennies to $2.17.

Also lower was Metallica Resources, which slipped 15 to $1.40 despite reporting some encouraging drill results from its El Morro project in Chile. Standing out is a 68-metre section running 2.05% copper and 0.94 gram gold per tonne in hole F-61. Noranda is earning a 70% interest in the project; the major ended 87 richer at $20.95.

Gold Reserve surrendered some early gains to finish 29 cheaper at $3.60. The Spokane-based company recently boosted proven and probable reserves at its large, low-grade Brisas gold-copper deposit in southeastern Venezuela by 900,000 oz. to 10.1 million oz.; copper reserves are up around 9% to 1.29 billion lbs.

First Silver Reserve slipped 24 to $1.73, after its first-quarter profit slipped by an order of magnitude to US$150,000 from a year ago, thanks to lower silver and gold production from its San Martin mine in Mexico.

Heading the other way was coal miner Hillsborough Resources, which jumped 18 to $1.20, after adopting a shareholder rights plan to give it time to fend off any hostile takeover bids; the company says it is not currently aware of any such bid. The plan will be put to a shareholder vote on June 21.

Gitennes Exploration advanced 7 to 50. The company recently completed a fully subscribed private placement of 3.4 million units to raise $1.53 million. The company is following up on a new gold discovery at its Tucumachay gold project in Peru, optioned from Inmet Mining. Inmet gained 54 to make $15.54.