Base metals slump as golds soar

Retreating base metal prices dragged producers down with them over the Jan. 9-15 report period, erasing gains made in the previous week.

Rio Tinto slumped $3.69 to US$76.81; Phelps Dodge flopped $1.34 to US$32.38; Southern Peru Copper sank 55 to US$11.70; BHP Billiton dropped a quarter to US$11.35; Anglo American fell 8 to US$16.40; and WMC slipped three pennies to US$20.15. Cushioned by a rally in gold, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold‘s B series shares were up 39 to US$13.34.

Newmont Mining ascended $1.90 to US$20.60 on a volume of 28.2 million shares, making it the most active issue south of the border. The producer was given new ammunition in the war for Normandy Mining in the form of regulatory approval to proceed with the takeover in both Australia and North America. The news deals a serious blow to contender AngloGold, which had used the uncertainty against Newmont to tout its own bid for the Aussie miner. As a counter-attack, AngloGold extended its offer period to Jan. 18, having nabbed just 6.5% when the previous closing date passed a week earlier. Despite all this, AngloGold climbed $1.29 over the period to finish at US$20.01.

The remaining gold majors all marched forward: Compania de Minas Buenaventura rose $2.10 to US$21.81; Gold Fields jumped 88 to US$5.88; and Ashanti Goldfields climbed 13 to US$4.03.