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The shortened period was by no means a strong one for the senior board, but it could have been worse. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 68 points to 11,659.96, with the sell-off coming amidst a flurry of bad news.

Disappointing U.S. jobs data triggered fears that the U.S. recovery was crumbling, and next came word that the International Monetary Fund was downgrading its global economic forecast.
Markets may well have fallen further if it wasn’t for investor belief that the bad U.S. payrolls report would push the Federal Reserve to further stimulate the economy.

Gold continued to follow equity prices and was off US$19 to US$1,578.90 per oz. as investors preferred short-term U.S. treasuries as a safe haven. Miners took their cue from the metal and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index was down 4 points to 304.02.

The diversified miners didn’t fare much better, with the S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index off 8 points to 876.45. The move followed the price of copper, which was down US9¢ to US$3.41 per lb.  

Nevada Copper was one of the period’s better performers with shares up 27% to $2.40 after Pala Investments Holdings said it was acquiring another 2.5 million of the company’s shares. The investment will buy Pala an extra 3.43% stake in Nevada Copper and bring its total interest up to 37.6%.  Pala is paying $1.90 per common share.

Peru-focused Dynacor Gold appointed Denis Lachance to its board and share prices jumped 27% to 57¢. Lachance has led several big mining development projects over the last 15 years. Most recently he was president of Koniambo Nickel, a joint venture between Xstrata Nickel and La Société minière du Sud Pacifique in New Caledonia, which developed one of the world’s largest laterite-nickel resources.

Hudbay Minerals delivered bad news to Aquila Resources when it told its junior joint-venture partner at the Back Forty project that it was suspending development because of other capital commitments. Aquila owns a 49% interest and Hudbay owns 51% of the project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Back Forty is an advanced-stage exploration project hosting a rich, zinc-gold volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit. Hudbay also terminated an exploration alliance with Aquila on four other properties. Aquila shares fell 19% to 20¢ for the period.

Shares in Richmont Mines fell almost 18% to $3.89 after the company cut its reserve and resource outlook for its Francoeur mine in Quebec. The company said the reduction is the result of  mineralization in the upper portion of the west zone being more discontinuous than its geological model led the company to believe. Proven and probable reserves stand at 504,687 tonnes grading 4.78 grams gold for 77,580 oz. gold, versus 615,664 tonnes grading 6.91 grams gold for 136,749 oz. previously.

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