Placer Dome, Barrick take top spot among most actives

With no strong movements in metal prices over the report period ended Nov. 7, trading in mining stocks was predominantly news driven. The S&P TSX Composite Index advanced 297.86 points, or 2.9%, to 10,681.18 while the gold subindex rose 1.16 to 215.09 points and the metals and mining subindex jumped up 14.39 to 362.96 points.

A week after Barrick Gold launched its hostile bid for rival gold miner Placer Dome, the latter announced it had appointed a special committee of independent directors to mull over Barrick’s bid and entertain any others that come forward. The pair were the most heavily traded mining stocks in Toronto over the period, with Barrick closing up 37 at $30.03 and Placer rising a dime to $23.43.

The highest percentage gainer of the period was the warrant of Bolivar Gold. The warrants popped up 47% to $1.25 in response to a decision by Venezuela’s Ministry of Basic Industries and Mining to issue exploitation certificates for Bolivar’s Choco 4 and 10 concessions in the El Callao gold district. The company’s common shares similarly shot up 22 to $2.12 on the news. Bolivar achieved commercial production at the 5,400-tonne-per-day Choco 10 gold mine in August.

Another strong performer was Jean-Raymond Boulle’s Adastra Minerals, formerly America Mineral Fields, which rocketed 45 to $1.65. The company secured quarry exploration rights in 10 concession areas near its massive Kolwezi cobalt-copper tailings project in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Building the Kolwezi plant will require Adastra to source rail ballast, road gravel, and sand and crushed stone for cement.

The most-actively traded junior in Toronto was gold miner Guinor Gold, which was up 2 to $1.41 as 12.4 million shares changed hands. Guinor remains the target of a friendly takeover bid from London-based gold miner Crew Gold), which is offering $1.50 in cash per Guinor share until the end of trading on Dec. 9, 2005. For its part, Crew slipped a nickel to $1.56.

Aluminum giant Alcan led the greatest-value-change board, rising $4.83 to $42.04. Alcan announced that it doesn’t expect any of its previously reported consolidated financial statements to be affected by an internal review launched by spinoff Novelis with respect to its own financial reporting.

Nevsun Resources was one of the most heavily traded losers over the period, with its common shares falling 18 to $1.60 and its warrants dropping 6 to 34. With its geologically promising Bisha volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit unfortunately located in Eritrea, Nevsun’s equities have been sinking for the past month as Eritrea and its hated neighbour Ethiopia inch closer to all-out war.

Another company on the downbeat was SouthernEra Diamond, which fell 4.5 to 44 despite having received a mining licence for its Camafuca diamond project in Angola in late October. SouthernEra has an 18% free carried interest in the project.