Toronto Stock Exchange, March 18-22

Toronto’s resource-heavy index retreated during the week, with concerns running rampant over Cyprus’ financial state.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.6%, or 73 points, to 12,757.35, as the Cypriot government struggled to prevent a banking collapse and stay in the eurozone.

On March 25, Cyprus and its international lenders approved a last-minute, €10-billion (US$13-billion) bailout plan. As part of the deal, the Mediterranean island country will close down its second-largest bank, the Popular Bank of Cyprus, and impose a levy on uninsured deposits over €100,000.

Amidst the uncertainty, the spot price for gold rose US$16.20 to US$1,609.20 per oz., which pushed the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index up 3%, or 7 points, to 258.21.

But the S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index slumped 5%, or 50 points, to 891.75, after base-metal miners Inmet Mining lost $2.69 to $69.11, Teck Resources fell $1.80 to $28.73, and First Quantum Minerals shed $1.62 to $20.12.

MagIndustries topped the week’s percentage gainers, climbing 32% to 19¢ after signing a framework agreement with East China Engineering Science and Technology (ECEC) to build its Mengo potash project in the Republic of the Congo. ECEC will receive roughly US$480 million for services related to engineering, planning, construction and performance. The 1.2-million-tonne-per-year project would be up and running by Dec. 31, 2015.

Diamond Fields International was up 25% to 5¢ after inking a joint-venture option agreement with Afri-Can Marine Minerals on its marine diamond leases in Namibia. Afri-Can and its local partner have an option to earn a 90% stake in four diamond-mining leases in exchange for spending $3.3 million over two years to bring the properties back into commercial production. The company still faces a TSX delisting in April.

Duluth Metals jumped 22% to $1.97 after discovering two new areas of mineralization on the 88 sq. km land package adjacent to its joint-venture Twin Metals project in the Duluth complex in Minnesota. The latest finds have been labelled Areas 3 and 4. Area 3 contains copper-nickel-platinum group metal mineralization, while area 4 has primarily copper mineralization. The junior has identified four new areas of mineralization since it started a first phase of exploration drilling in October. A second round of drilling is planned for mid-year.

In a separate release, Duluth said it would cancel plans to take its wholly owned subsidiary Duluth Exploration public, given the tough market conditions.

Aurizon Mines was the week’s most actively traded stock after Alamos Gold dropped its hostile bid for the gold producer on March 19, leaving Aurizon with a friendly offer from Hecla Mining. Aurizon lost 5¢ to close at $4.45, on 29.8 million shares traded.

TSX most active issues

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		Volume
Company	Symbol	(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
Aurizon Mines	ARZ	29826	4.58	4.36	4.45	–	0.05
Eastern Platin	ELR	19451	0.17	0.15	0.15	–	0.01
Uranium One	UUU	17853	2.78	2.76	2.76		0
Teck Res B	TCKB	16926	30.45	28.06	28.73	–	1.8
B2Gold	BTO	16482	3.33	3.08	3.16	–	0.02
Yamana Gold	YRI	14686	16.02	14.9	16	+	1.15
First Quantum	FM	14674	21.65	19.92	20.12	–	1.62
Kinross Gold	K	14545	8.35	8.06	8.32	+	0.27
Barrick Gold	ABX	13974	30.55	29.42	30.03	+	0.81
Denison Mines	DML	12279	1.54	1.39	1.47	+	0.05

TSX greatest percentage change

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		Volume
Company	Symbol	(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
MagIndustries	MAA	1099	0.24	0.13	0.19	+	32.1
Diamond Fields	DFI	42	0.05	0.05	0.05	+	25
Orosur Mng	OMI	283	0.75	0.56	0.67	+	24
Duluth Metals	DM	362	1.97	1.62	1.97	+	22.3
Pac Rim Mining	PMU	434	0.06	0.05	0.06	+	22.2
Lupaka Gold	LPK	202	0.38	0.31	0.38	+	20.6
Liberty Mines	LBE	109	0.03	0.03	0.03	+	20
Rockex Mng	RXM	198	0.12	0.1	0.12	+	20
Polar Star Mng	PSR	406	0.15	0.13	0.15	+	20
Cardero Res	CDU	411	0.33	0.25	0.3	+	20
Malaga	MLG	3521	0.03	0.02	0.02	–	42.8
Cerro Grande M	CEG	167	0.16	0.11	0.14	–	26.3
Braeval Mng	BVL	84	0.25	0.2	0.2	–	20
Alderon Iron O	ADV	2153	1.8	1.3	1.34	–	19.7
Scorpio Mining	SPM	1350	0.92	0.73	0.74	–	16.8
Inspiration Mg	ISM	116	0.09	0.07	0.08	–	16.6
MDN Inc	MDN	556	0.06	0.05	0.05	–	16.6
Geovic Mng	GMC	246	0.06	0.05	0.05	–	16.6
Belo Sun Mng	BSX	1900	1.34	1.12	1.12	–	15.7
Wesdome Gold	WDO	145	0.72	0.59	0.61	–	15.2

TSX greatest value change

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Company	Symbol	Change	Close	Change
Royal Gold	RGL	23022	71.72	+	3.47
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	2501805	41.94	+	1.62
Goldcorp	G	11616651	34.33	+	1.19
Yamana Gold	YRI	14685892	16	+	1.15
Silver Wheaton	SLW	5921909	31.93	+	0.99
Barrick Gold	ABX	13974198	30.03	+	0.81
Tahoe Res	THO	717945	17.57	+	0.68
Silver Std Res	SSO	682827	11.04	+	0.53
Contintl Gold	CNL	892113	6.72	+	0.52
Alamos Gold	AGI	3427305	14.71	+	0.47
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF	759503	33.71	–	2.77
Inmet Mining	IMN	2251746	69.11	–	2.69
Teck Res B	TCKB	16925769	28.73	–	1.8
First Quantum	FM	14674198	20.12	–	1.62
Teck Res A	TCKA	18986	30.4	–	1.6
Agrium	AGU	2294430	102.95	–	1.42
Altius Mnrls	ALS	109411	11.78	–	1.31
Potash Cp Sask	POT	6936885	40.42	–	1.21
Allied Nevada	ANV	811822	17.48	–	0.92
Horizns G Bear	HGD	753475	13.55	–	0.75