The period ended April 13 was punctuated by the mutually agreed-upon cancellation of a tentative deal that would have seen Royal Gold entirely finance the US$13.8-million cost of building Capital Gold‘s El Chanate open-pit gold mine in Mexico’s Sonora state. New York-based Capital Gold says it is trying to pin down a substitute financing from a “specific source.” Production from El Chanate is expected to average 50,000 oz. gold annually over five years from a reserve of 13 million tonnes grading 0.83 gram gold per tonne. Over the period, Capital sank US3, to US34, well off its recent 52-week high of US69, while Royal Gold slipped US$1.06, to US$16.19.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold tumbled US$3.33 to US$35.66 after reporting that its Spanish copper unit, Atlantic Copper, would close its smelter for 43 days, reopening on May 4 once maintenance work was completed. Last year, the unit produced 290,000 tonnes of copper anode and 247,000 tonnes of copper cathode. Atlantic Copper has a smelter-refinery complex in Huelva, wire rod and cable installations in Cordoba and Barcelona, and a head office in Madrid.
Vancouver-based junior Patriot Gold appeared in second-spot on the percentage gainer list, shooting up 22% to US$2.31 on heavy trading as improving weather allowed it to resume exploration of its Bruner and Vernal gold-silver properties in Nevada. At Brunel, Patriot hopes to fire up a drill rig in June, while at Vernal, geologists are mapping and sampling in preparation for trenching and auger drilling.
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