Miners carry TSX higher

Despite some poor economic indicators – such as Canada’s account deficit widening to its largest level since 1946 — investors were still holding to the theme of upside potential going forward. Such bullishness was supported by stronger employment numbers for November and was reflected in the TSX Composite Index climbing roughly 250 points for the Nov. 29 to Dec 3 period to finish at 13,178 points.

With whispers of a possible third round of quantitative easing coming to the U.S. in the future, the yellow metal regained some of its momentum as it climbed US$43 to US$1,403 taking the Global Gold Index along for the ride as it was up 21 points to 431 points.

The diversified miners also benefited from the demand for hard assets. The Capped Metals & Mining Index gained another 106 points to finish up at 1,387 points thanks to
higher prices for a basket of base metals including copper, aluminum, nickel, tin, lead and zinc.

With metal prices hot and investor demand high, explorers were taking advantage of that appetite by going to the market for capital.

South American Silver closed a $31.9 million private placement and saw its shares climb 31% to finish at $2.62. The deal gives Zamin Precious Minerals a 19.7% stake in the company which is developing the Malku Khota Silver-Indium project in Bolivia.

EMC Metals also got in on the action and was rewarded by the market for doing so. The company closed a private placement that raised $1.5 million for its coffers and saw its shares climb 42% to 34¢ for the period. The money will go towards metallurgical test work on the Nyngan Scandium Project Joint Venture in Australia.

The other big gainer on the back of a new financing was Treasury Metals, which raised $3.5 million and saw its share price gain 36% to finish at 72¢. Treasury is expanding its gold resources at its flagship Goliath Gold Project located in the Kenora Gold District of Northwestern Ontario.

The company also announced that Martin Walter would be taking the reigns as chief executive of the company while Scott Jobin-Bevans, the former chief executive, would serve as president and director.

Kimber Resources managed to carve out its 35% gain, the old fashion way, with exploration results. The company’s shares finished the period at $1.54 after announcing assay results from channel sampling at its Carmen deposit, which is part of its Monterde Project in Mexico. Kimber said the results show continuity of high grade gold-silver mineralization to surface.

And Minera Andes climbed 44% to $2.09, making it the largest gainer by percentage points for the period. The bump came a week after the company released a resource estimate the San Jose mine in Argentina. The company announced that inferred mineral resources increased by 133% and the contained gold increased by 122% thanks to the discovery of nine new veins.