Broad market sinks on fears of Iraqi quagmire

With the war in Iraq failing to shape up as the cake-walk many were predicting, the S&P-TSX composite index retreated 68.5 points to end the March 17-25 report period at 6,385.

Gold performed about as miserably, falling another US$3.90 to a London afternoon fix of US$331.90 per oz. on March 25. Canada’s major producers felt the pinch, and the S&P-TSX gold sub-index plummeted 10.32 points, or 6.6% of its value, to settle at 146.66 points.

Kinross Gold was the busiest major, shedding $1.09 to $7.90 with 11.9 million shares traded. Placer Dome was next in line as 10.2 million shares found their way $1.10 lower at $13.05. Barrick Gold escaped with a 72 loss to end at $21.53 on 9.8 million shares.

Wheaton River Minerals ranked as the most traded miner climbing 9 to $1.29 with nearly 15.7 million shares changing hands. On March 25, Wheaton and an unnamed partner announced plans to split the cost of acquiring BHP Billiton’s 25% stake in the Bajo de la Alumbrera mine in Argentina. Having just acquired a quarter-stake from Rio Tinto, Wheaton will end up owning 37.5% of the mine.

St Andrew Goldfields made a rare appearance on the top 10 traded list, with 8.2 million shares trading 2 higher to hit 21. Under a signed agreement, St Andrew’s 45.4%-owned subsidiary, Geoinformatics, will pick up Kennecott Exploration’s orphaned projects plus the Uncle Sam gold project in Central Alaska in return for a US$250,000 exploration commitment and a 2% net smelter return. Geoinformatics will build a three-dimensional mineralization model using Kennecott’s Great Basin data.

Meridian Gold tumbled $2.79, or 16.6%, to $14.01 after a stunning defeat in a non-binding referendum on the Esquel project, held in the city of Esquel. Some 80% of participants voted against mine development.

Also down was Dublin-based Moydow Mines International, which dropped a dime to 80 after announcing it would sell its half-stake in the Ntotoroso gold project in Ghana to Newmont Mining for $20 million.

The S&P-TSX diversified metals and mining sub-index fell 5.16 points, or 4%, to end the period at 124.62. Inco saw the most action, dropping $2.67 to $27.60 on 6.4 million shares. The nickel miner is going ahead with its Voisey’s Bay nickel project in Labrador even though capital cost estimates are 14% higher than anticipated.

Wallbridge Mining made the biggest percentage move among the base metal miners; unfortunately the issue plunged 44.8% to 69. The company reported inconclusive results from two holes collared on an anomaly under its Windy Lake property near Sudbury.

Fellow junior General Minerals added 2, or 20% of its value, to finish at 12. Australian-based Ranger Minerals plans to sell 19.5 million of its 23.3 million General Minerals shares (representing a 55% stake) to several buyers for a dime apiece.

Print

Be the first to comment on "Broad market sinks on fears of Iraqi quagmire"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*


By continuing to browse you agree to our use of cookies. To learn more, click more information

Dear user, please be aware that we use cookies to help users navigate our website content and to help us understand how we can improve the user experience. If you have ideas for how we can improve our services, we’d love to hear from you. Click here to email us. By continuing to browse you agree to our use of cookies. Please see our Privacy & Cookie Usage Policy to learn more.

Close