US markets fall, Nov. 8-12

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 227.64 points or 0.63% to finish the Nov. 8-12 trading week at 36,100.31 and the S&P 500 dropped 14.68 points or 0.31% to 4,682.85. Spot gold rose US$47.20 per oz. or 2.60% to US$1,865.20 per ounce.

Shares of Alcoa advanced US$4.06 to US$51.92 per share.  The company announced that its Portland Aluminium joint venture plans to restart 35,000 tonnes per year of curtailed capacity at its aluminium smelter in Australia’s state of Victoria. The capacity has been idle since 2009 and the restart is expected to produce its first metal in the third quarter of 2022. Portland Aluminium is an unincorporated joint venture consisting of Alcoa of Australia Ltd (55%), CITIC Nominees Pty Ltd (22.5%), and Marubeni Aluminium Australia Pty Ltd (22.5%). Alcoa of Australia is owned by Alcoa Corp. (60%) and Alumina Ltd (40%). The total cost of the restart is expected to be about US$28 million, of which Alcoa Corp.’s share is about US$9 million. In September Alcoa said it is restarting 268,000 tonnes of aluminium capacity at the Alumar smelter in São Luís, Brazil, which has been curtailed since 2015. That restart is expected to be deliver its first molten metal in the fourth quarter of 2022.  When both projects are complete, Alcoa Corp will have about 82% of its 2.99 million tonnes of global aluminum smelting capacity operating.

Gold Fields’ shares rose 12.8% to US$10.52. The company recently reported third quarter production and costs. Its attributable gold-equivalent production came in at 606,000 ounces, up 9% year-on-year, at all-in sustaining costs of US$1,016 per oz., up 5% year-year-on-year. Gold Fields said it is on track to meet its 2021 production and cost guidance. Attributable gold-equivalent production is expected be between 2.30 million oz. and 2.35 million oz. and an AISC of between US$1,020 and US$1,060 per ounce.

Shares of Kinross Gold climbed 11.8% to US$6.94. The company reported production and financial results for the third quarter. Kinross produced 483,060 gold-equivalent oz. in the three months ended Sept. 30, down from 603,312 gold-equivalent oz. in the year-earlier quarter, primarily due to lower production at Tasiast due to a mill fire in June. All-in sustaining costs were US$1,225 per gold-equivalent oz., compared with US$958 per oz. a year-earlier, due to the decrease in ounces sold. Adjusted net earnings were US$90.2 million or US7¢ per share, down from US$310.2 million or US25¢, primarily due to a decrease in revenue. (Revenues dropped to US$862.5 million in the third quarter from US$1.13 billion in the same quarter a year ago, mainly due to lower production and a lower average realized gold price.) The company is on track to meet its revised 2021 production of 2.1 million gold-equivalent oz. and an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,110 per gold-equivalent ounce. In 2022 and 2023, Kinross anticipates annual production to grow to 2.7 million gold-equivalent oz. and 2.9 million gold-equivalent oz., respectively.

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