Toronto Stock Exchange, Sept. 3-6

The S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 24 points to 12,820.92 for the holiday-shortened period, as the resource sector held on to ­recent gains.

Helping the sector — and by extension, the resource-heavy TSX — was news from south of the Canadian border, where August jobs numbers were slightly weaker than expected. A weaker labour market had investors doubting that the U.S. Federal Reserve would taper its monthly bond-buying program any time soon, which is good news for precious metals and commodities related to global growth.

The diversified miners represented in the S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index responded in kind, as the index was up 14 points to 799.22, and the copper price was up a cent to US$3.26 per lb. The yellow metal fell just US$8 to US$1,386.50 per oz., and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index was down 7 points to 195.48.

Canada Lithium was one of the period’s biggest gainers after it said it would get a $5-million prepayment from its Chinese off-take partner Tewoo-ERDC. The company said it was in talks with Tewoo about future prepayments if it meets more milestones. It will use the money for working capital as it commissions the Quebec Lithium project, near Val-d’Or, Que. Processing is set to restart in mid-September, after a maintenance upgrade, with lithium carbonate shipments to Tewoo in China starting in October. It expects to have the project in full commercial production by the end of 2014’s first quarter. Canada Lithium shares gained 28% to 50¢ for the week.

Revett Minerals updated the market on progress at its Troy mine in northwest Montana. The company is trying to access mining areas where underground mining was suspended at the end of last year. The good news is that initial observations of the area showed safe travel conditions. Over the next two months Revett says it will dewater and inspect further, and that mining operations could start as early as October. Revett shares were up 27% to $1.24.

Corvus Gold delivered good news from its Bullfrog project in Nevada. Corvus shares were up 22% to $1.27 after it discovered vein systems near the Yellow Jacket gold-silver zone. The discovery was made by two holes at 85-metre intercepts grading 1.6 grams gold, and 172 metres at 0.45 gram gold. 

Orocobre commissioned the first production wells and started filling the first evaporation pond at the Olaoroz lithium project in Argentina, and the market applauded. The company’s shares were up 17% after announcing that the first pumping and filling of an evaporation pond had occurred four weeks ahead of schedule. The company is pumping up to 30% of its design rate and should reach the full rate by November.

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