Poor fundamentals lurk
Some market-watchers continue to suspect that the first-quarter rally in base metals prices was premature and overdone. Prices fell sharply under the pressure of long liquidation by funds on March 22,…
BHP Billiton
US gold producers rise to the occasion
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had an anything-but-average week, shedding 2.7% to finish the March 20-26 period at just over 10,353 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 was also down an equivalent perc…
Thundelarra sets sights on Western Australia
Exploration in Australia is at its lowest level in two decades, but this belies the country’s geological potential, Robert Champion de Crespigny told delegates attending the annual convention of the P…
Financings top up juniors’ treasuries
Vancouver — With investor interest in gold and base metal stocks picking up, several juniors are adding much-needed funds to their coffers by issuing shares.In an effort to speed up development of th…
Caldera options out Tabletop’s base metals (March 25, 2002)
Australian-listed West Musgrave Mining has signed an option deal to acquire up to a 70% stake in the base metal portion of Caldera Resources’s (cdr-t) Tabletop project in Western Australia.The option …
BHP options Alberta diamond project
After staking a 7,200-sq.-km land package in northern Alberta last year, the Canadian diamond division of BHP Billiton (BHP-N) has acquired an option on two key properties held by Buffalo Diamonds (YB…
Ivanhoe continues Mongolian shopping spree (March 18, 2002)
Spurred on by encouraging results at the Turquoise Hill copper-gold project, Ivanhoe Mines (IVN-T) has inked two deals to add to its expanding stable of exploration projects in southern Mongolia.Under…
Anglo boosts Amplats stake
The biggest news during the report period was Anglo American’s revelation that it had spent US$701 million last year increasing its stake in Anglo American Platinum to 59.6% from 50.1%. The strategic …
Corriente, BHP Billiton, Lowell make progress in Ecuador
Exploration drilling in Ecuador’s Corriente copper belt by partners Corriente Resources (CTQ-T) and BHP Billiton has delineated a significant copper-gold resource in the Mirador deposit.The Corriente …
New wave of explorers seeks Olympic Dam-type deposits
A quarter-century after the Olympic Dam discovery in Australia left geologists struggling to classify the giant oddity they’d found, a new and better-informed wave of exploration for Olympic Dam-style…
Orvana begins Don Mario development
It may have taken longer than expected, but Orvana Minerals (ORV-T) has entered the final stretch at the advanced Don Mario gold project in eastern Bolivia.Orvana bought the deposit in 1996 for $43 mi…
Producers rise with yellow metal
Despite little substantive news from the bullion markets over the report period ended Feb. 25, gold prices still managed to stage a significant rally and closed up $5 to just under US$300 per oz.The U…