Canada’s benchmark index down sharply, Sept. 6-9

Stock and commodity markets came under pressure after comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Eric Rosengren, the president of the Boston Federal Reserve. Draghi disappointed markets by not declaring new stimulus measures to boost the economy, while Rosengren warned that it was risky to delay raising interest rates. Statistics Canada reported that the unemployment rate in August rose to 7%, up from July’s 6.9%. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 1.7% to 14,540, as The S&P/TSX Global Mining Index dropped 1.98% to 61.95, and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index lost 3.2% to 235.81. The gold spot price in New York rose 0.2% to finish at US$1,327.80 per oz., while West Texas Intermediate crude finished at US$45.66 per barrel.

A progress report from Endeavour Mining on its Houndé gold project in Burkina Faso lifted the company’s shares 71¢ to $23.18. Construction is on time and budget, despite the wet season, and the first gold pour is expected during the fourth quarter of 2017. Procurement is 45% complete, the company reported, with total capital commitments amounting to $150 million. All six carbon-in-leach ring beams are complete, land compensation is finalized and resettlement is underway, with all approvals in place. Detailed engineering of the processing facility would be finished by mid-November, and procurement is done for a 38 km, 91 kv overhead power line, with construction in October. 

The best hole at Arizona Mining’s Taylor deposit on its wholly owned Hermosa project in southern Arizona lifted the junior’s shares up 42¢ to $2.38. Drill hole 361 intersected eight mineralized intervals, including 32 metres grading 13.7% zinc, 10.3% lead and 3.36 oz. silver per ton, and 22 metres grading 15.2% zinc, 11.2% lead and 3.89 oz. silver per ton, within an interval of 154 metres grading 6.5% zinc, 4.9% lead, 0.1% copper and 1.72 oz. silver per ton. “Hole 361 is one of those drill holes that comes around once or twice in a career,” chief operating officer Don Taylor said in a release. In February, the company completed a maiden inferred resource for the deposit of 39.4 million tonnes grading 11% zinc equivalent, using a 6% zinc-equivalent cut-off grade.

A downward revision of its 2016 production guidance sent Detour Gold’s shares down $2.11 to finish at $29.24. The new guidance is 525,000 to 545,000 oz. gold, down from 540,000 to 570,000 ounces. Production in the second half of the year is being impacted by unusually heavy rainfalls in August, which flooded the bottom west end of the pit and saturated the surrounding watershed. The west end of the pit hosts the Calcite zone, which is the main source of the plant’s high grade for the rest of 2016. All-in sustaining costs are an expected US$970 to $1,020 per oz., up from the previous guidance of US$920 to US$980 per ounce.