Toronto Stock Exchange

he S&P/TSX Composite Index was off 101 points to 11,662.59 for the period after the European Central Bank disappointed investors.

In the previous period ECB president Mario Draghi ignited a market rally by saying the central bank would do “whatever it takes” to support the euro. But the ECB failed to signal that it was ready to buy government bonds — sending Spanish and Italian bond yields soaring. Mitigating the downward pressure on stock markets, however, was a U.S. labour report that delivered better-than-expected numbers.

The price of gold fell US$5 to US$1,616.20 per oz., causing the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index to drop by 3 points to 287.63 points, while the S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index was down 11 points to 826.89 points, with the price of copper off 3¢ to $3.39 per lb.

One of the period’s big successes was Jaguar Mining. After getting beaten up in the markets recently for a failed takeover bid, the company’s shares climbed 49% to $1.01 after increasing measured and indicated resources at its Gurupi project in Brazil by 30% to 3.2 million oz. gold.  The resource includes 35.65 million tonnes of measured at 0.86 gram gold and 75.02 million tonnes of indicated at 0.93 gram gold. Jaguar is doing a revised feasibility study on Gurupi that it says will be done by the fourth quarter.

Bad news turned to good news and Intrepid Mines’ share price recovered from an earlier sell-off to finish the period 44% higher than where it began. The rally came on the back of the company winning an important Indonesian investor, with the country’s media tycoon Surya Paloh taking a 5% stake in the company. The move comes a few days after Intrepid was pushed out of its US$5-billion Tujuh Bukit gold-silver-copper project in the country. It is believed Paloh will help in talks with Intrepid’s joint-venture partner PT Indo Multi Niaga (PT IMN). On July 20, PT IMN suspended operations at Tujuh Bukit and kicked Intrepid off the site.

Coalspur Mines also received a healthy boost to its market valuation after its scoping study confirmed the potential for a larger mine at its Vista Extension project. The project is expected to produce 3.8 million tonnes per year of marketable coal from a 108-million-tonne resource with a 28-year mine life. The study estimated capex of $346 million, and an after-tax net present value of $445 million using an 8% discount rate. Coalspur shares were up 38% to 83¢ for the period.

Rockgate Capital rose 34% to 38¢ after it extended a high-grade uranium-copper-silver zone at its Falea project in Mali. Highlights from the Plateau Edge structure included intercepts of 10 metres grading 0.19% uranium oxide (U3O8), 0.24% copper and 83.6 grams silver per tonne, and 8 metres grading 0.15% U3O8, 0.11% copper and 258.6 grams silver. The company plans to release a resource on the zone in the fourth quarter.

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