US markets, Nov. 25-29

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 marked their eighth straight week of gains, with the Dow climbing 21.64 points, or 0.14% to 16,086.41, and the S&P 500 up 1.05 points, or 0.10% to 1,805.81. The eight-week streak for the benchmark S&P 500 made it the “longest weekly stretch of gains since a nine-week run from November 2003 to January 2004,” Reuters says. For the month of November, the Dow posted a 3.5% gain, and the S&P 500 a 2.8% advance. The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index was up just 0.09 of a point, or 0.10% to 86.46, from Nov. 25–29.

Rio Tinto

shares climbed US$1.32 to US$53.05 on news that the company would expand its iron ore production in Australia. Rio said on Nov. 28 that mine-production capacity would increase by more than 60 million tonnes a year between 2014 and 2017. Most of the growth is expected in the next two years, with production of more than 330 million tonnes in 2015. Early tonnes will be delivered through brownfield expansion, and Rio has approved $400 million for plant equipment and modification, as well as additional heavy machinery, at mine sites in the Pilbara. The additional production will be achieved at an all-in capital intensity of US$120 to US$130 per tonne (low-US$100s a tonne per Rio Tinto share). The investment in iron ore is driven by the long-term fundamentals of the metal that are underpinned by urbanization and income growth in China, and the rest of the developing world, the company said.

Augusta Resource

ended the week US52¢ higher at US$1.70 per share after the U.S. Forest Service publicized that it has completed the last environmental-impact statement (EIS) for the company’s Rosemont copper project near Tucson, Ariz. CEO Gil Clausen noted that the final EIS was “the culmination of more than six years of comprehensive environmental and technical studies and analyses.” With the EIS process concluded, he added, Augusta can wrap-up permitting.

Cliffs Natural Resources

was down US$1.03 at US$25.01 per share, after announcing the week before that it would indefinitely suspend its chromite project in northern Ontario by year-end.