MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — U.S. MARKETS — Gold plummets

The Dow Jones industrial average was off 189.2 points for the report period ended May 18, closing at 10,836.95 on renewed fears of inflation.

Gold continued to slide further following an announcement by Britain that it will sell 60% of its gold reserves. The spot price for the yellow metal fell US$4.40 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange to a 20-year low of US$273.70 per oz.

Getchell Gold, listed on the American Stock Exchange, slipped the furthest with a loss of $1.81 to US$28.38. On the New York Stock Exchange, Newmont Mining slipped $1.44 on volume of nearly 8 million shares to finish the week at US$19.44. Homestake Mining lost 62 cents to close at US$8.44.

South Africa’s Anglogold shed 75 cents to close at US$20.81. Ghana’s Ashanti Goldfields dropped 38 cents to US$7.50 on news that miners at the Obuasi complex went on strike.

Though copper held steady on Comex at 70 cents per lb., copper companies edged lower. Phelps Dodge lost $2.19 to close at US$61.62. Class A and B shares of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold fell $1.68 and $1.94 to close at US$14.38 and US$15, respectively. Rio Tinto slumped $1.62 to US$61.88.

Asarco dropped 94 cents to US$17.62, while subsidiary Southern Peru Copper lost 75 cents at US$13.69.

Australia’s BHP bucked the trend, climbing 56 cents to US$22.75.

Among the juniors, Nasdaq-listed Crown Resources gained 75 cents to close at US$1.81 following a Congressional vote to reinstate a plan of operations for the Crown Jewel gold project in Washington state.

Stillwater Mining touched a new high, gaining $2.13 to close at US$31.88.