TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE -Sept. 7-10

While rising interest rates are generally bearish for the market, the Bank of Canada’s latest quarter point rise didn’t surprise everyone. Bay Street had been split on whether the Bank of Canada would hold or raise rates, and so the news did not shock the market as the TSX composite index climbed marginally higher over the Labour Day-shortened Sept. 7-10 period. The index was up roughly 24 points for the period, finishing at 12,125.60.

With the U.S. Federal Reserve confirming that economic conditions continue to improve and jobless claims are dropping, the outlook on the U.S. economy and global growth overall grew rosier. The more optimistic outlook was part of the reason for the continued interest in diversified miners as evidenced by the Capped Metals & Mining index climbing 22 points to 1,045.06. The prices for nickel, tin and lead were higher, while copper and aluminum prices were off slightly and zinc prices were flat.

The news wasn’t so good for gold miners as the Global Gold index was down 10 points to 381.61 with the price of gold falling US$3 to US$1,246.50.

Word that Stillwater Mining is looking to acquire Marathon PGM in a friendly deal had Marathon shares up 92% to $3.62. The offer is a combination of shares and cash with Marathon shareholders getting 0.112 shares of Stillwater and $1.775 in cash for each Marathon share. The deal values Marathon PGM at US$118 million or $3.55 a share. Marathon’s flagship project is the Marathon PGM-Cu project in northwestern Ontario. The project has 114.8 million tonnes in the measured and indicated category grading 0.78 gram palladium per tonne, 0.23 gram platinum per tonne, 0.08 gram gold per tonne and 0.24% copper.

A resource estimate at its Thunder Bay North project in Ontario had Magma Metals up 32% to 54¢. The company announced indicated resources of 9.06 million tonnes grading 2.43 grams platinum equivalent metals for 708,000 platinum equivalent ounces. Magma plans to have a scoping study released on the project by the end of the year.

The period was also a strong one for Endeavour Financial, which announced it had entered the ranks of gold producers by completing its acquisition of Etruscan Resources. The deal saw Etruscan shareholders get 26¢ and 0.0932 of an Endeavour share for each Etruscan shares. Endeavour also owns 43% of Crew Gold and will look to change its name to Endeavour Mining at its shareholders meeting later this month.

The resignation of three directors from Goldstone Resources’ board of directors wasn’t viewed as good news by the market, which sent the company’s share price down 16% to 47¢. Goldstone has its key assets in the Beardmore-Geraldton camp in northwestern Ontario. Three days after announcing the resignations, on Sept. 13, the company announced that it had appointed two new directors to its board.

TSX most active issues
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Andean Res	AND	40374	6.89	5.91	6.12	-0.86
Baffinland Irn	BIM	23847	0.71	0.55	0.68	+ 0.11
KinrossGold	K	22073	18.49	17.01	17.47	-0.65
Mirabela Nickl	MNB	19413	1.89	1.70	1.79	+ 0.05
Western Coal	WTN	16036	4.82	4.28	4.70	+ 0.26
IAMGold Corp	IMG	14926	20.20	17.84	17.89	-1.59
Eastern Platin	ELR	14269	1.28	1.14	1.27	+ 0.05
Great Basin Go	GBG	13423	2.57	2.31	2.54	+ 0.28
Barrick Gold	ABX	12513	48.46	45.32	46.36	-0.73
Eldorado Gold	ELD	11400	20.59	19.36	19.66	-0.23

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Marathon PGM	MAR	9753	3.78	3.39	3.62	+ 92.5
Gryphon Gold	GGN	273	0.13	0.10	0.11	+ 37.5
Malaga	MLG	643	0.12	0.10	0.12	+ 33.3
Magma Metals	MMW	559	0.55	0.44	0.54	+ 31.7
Yukon-Nev Gold	YNG	7522	0.62	0.47	0.57	+ 26.6
Adanac Moly	AUA	1461	0.06	0.04	0.05	+ 25.0
CIC Energy	ELC	934	3.15	2.35	2.95	+ 24.4
Pure Nickel	NIC	133	0.16	0.13	0.16	+ 23.0
INV Metals	INV	427	0.90	0.75	0.85	+ 21.4
Endeavour Finl	EDV	5785	2.84	2.30	2.73	+ 20.2
Mawson Res	MAW	186	0.86	0.67	0.68	-20.0
Goldstone Res	GRC	892	0.54	0.47	0.47	-16.0
Andean Res	AND	40374	6.89	5.91	6.12	-12.3
Western Copper	WRN	543	1.38	1.18	1.23	-12.1
Kimber Res	KBR	26	0.89	0.82	0.82	-10.8
Diamond Fields	DFI	139	0.17	0.14	0.17	-10.5
Solitario Res	SLR	24	2.29	1.94	1.94	-10.1
Ursa Major Min	UMJ	642	0.10	0.08	0.09	-10.0
First Nickel	FNI	2923	0.12	0.09	0.10	-9.0
Lake Shore Gld	LSG	3403	3.86	3.43	3.47	-8.4

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF_U	243994	51.45	+ 1.90
Major Drilling	MDI	179285	27.04	+ 1.89
Marathon PGM	MAR	9752979	3.62	+ 1.74
Altius Mnrls	ALS	106356	11.04	+ 0.84
Agrium	AGU	2085886	76.23	+ 0.77
Europn Goldfld	EGU	1351893	10.70	+ 0.73
Richmont Mines	RIC	728384	5.44	+ 0.60
Sabina Silver	SBB	4546140	4.21	+ 0.59
CIC Energy	ELC	933773	2.95	+ 0.58
Guyana Gldflds	GUY	2186849	10.36	+ 0.54
Detour Gold	DGC	1684663	29.33	-2.31
First Quantum	FM	1733697	63.73	-1.72
Inmet Mining	IMN	594703	52.69	-1.70
Goldcorp	G	11304591	42.86	-1.63
IAMGold Corp	IMG	14926017	17.89	-1.59
Seabridge Gold	SEA	110004	29.42	-1.31
Andean Res	AND	40374256	6.12	-0.86
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	1647691	67.10	-0.84
Ivanhoe Mines	IVN	1113085	18.65	-0.77
Royal Gold	RGL	13339	50.10	-0.75