Stillwater sinking

During the report period ended Feb. 18, Stillwater Mining Chairman Francis McAllister gave the company’s dwindling ranks of true believers more reason for doubt, telling listeners, during a conference call, that it was facing a major cash crunch.

As result, Stillwater crashed $1.24 to US$3, and traded at US$2.75 at presstime, while it reported lower-than-anticipated 2002 production of 476,000 oz. palladium and 141,000 oz. platinum, and a net income of US$31.7 million (US74 per share) on revenue of US$276 million.

While gold prices sank more than US$15 to below US$350 per oz., the fall in gold stocks was muted: Newmont Mining fell $1.32 to US$27.18; AngloGold dropped 54 to US$32.80; Gold Fields rose 7 to US$12.64; Durban Deep retreated 23 to US$3.72; and Harmony Gold declined 35 to close at US$14.25. Ashanti Goldfields was up 5 to US$6.15 as it unveiled a US$56-million profit in 2002 on the production of 1.6 million oz. gold. Coeur d’Alene Mines fell 3 to US$1.61 as it reported that its 2002 silver production rose 36% to 14.8 million oz., its gold production grew 22% to 117,000 oz., and it will take up to a US$24-million writedown on its Silver Valley mine in Idaho.

Among the base metal miners: CVRD fell $1.03 to US$28.15 as it closed its US$17.6-million acquisition of Elkem Rana, a Norwegian producer of ferroalloys; Anglo American slipped 8 to US$14.60; BHP Billiton was off a nickel to US$10.90; Rio Tinto rose $1.01 to US$79.66; Phelps Dodge gained 22 to reach US$34.82; Alcoa jumped up $1.14 to hit US$20.95; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold fell another 17 to US$16.64; and WMC Resources rose 8 to US$11.09.