TSX breaches 11,000

A strengthening tropical storm Rita and inflation worries set the price of oil and gold alight during the Sept. 13-19 report period. The twin drivers pushed the Toronto Stock Exchange through the 11,000-point mark for the first time in five years, for a 139.57-point gain to 11,024.73. The yellow metal rocketed US$16.15 per oz. to hit a 17-year high of US$446.50 in the afternoon in London on Sept. 19.

Kinross Gold ended as the nation’s busiest major gold producer, with nearly 39.9 million shares advancing 43 to $8.72. Newmont Mining recently sold off its 4.4% stake in Kinross. The 15.23 million shares were offloaded in two block trades on the TSX at a price of $9.15 a share. Newmont ended $3.74 better at $53.85.

Fellow gold major Placer Dome saw about half as many shares gain $1.07 to make $19.65. The company recently approved development of the Cortez Hills gold project in Nevada and the Wallaby underground project at the Granny Smith mine in Australia.

Barrick Gold rounded out the big three by grabbing 66 to hit $33.61, after announcing the first gold pour at the Veladero mine in Argentina, earlier than expected. Production for the year is pegged at 55,000 oz., with 700,000 oz. per year forecast during the subsequent three years.

Overall, the golds climbed 7.37 points to 221 points even. After an early dip, the diversified miners finished 6.88 points higher at 351.34 despite across-the-board losses for the base metals, most notably nickel and tin, which were off about 8% each.

In another first, Inco produced the initial batch of concentrate from the long-awaited Voisey’s Bay project in Labrador. The mine is expected to produce around 50,000 tonnes of nickel-in-concentrate in 2006. The company also inked a new 3-year labour pact with unionized workers at its Thompson facility. Inco edged 12 higher to $52.

Canico Resources jumped on to the main stage after Brazilian giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) launched a $790-million takeover bid for the Vancouver-based nickel explorer and developer. CVRD is eyeing Canico’s advanced Ona-Puma project in Brazil. Investors anticipated a competing offer and bid Canico’s shares $4.85, or 33%, higher to $19.50.

Uranium explorer UEX jumped 94, or 30%, to $4 even, after it released the results from the latest batch of four holes from the Shea Creek uranium project in northern Saskatchewan. Results include a 14.1-metre interval running 7.7% U3O8, 7.9 metres of 5.8% U3O8, and 20 metres of 5.9 U3O8. UEX has a 12.25% stake in Shea Creek and can earn up to a 49% interest by funding exploration.

Those advances were dwarfed by Exall Resources, which nearly doubled to 80 on more than 10 million shares. Exall and Venture Exchange-listed partner Southern Star Resources are drilling the Gold Eagle project near Red Lake, Ont. Previous drilling yielded up to 11.7 metres of 28.5 grams gold. Exall also recently completed a $1-million private placement of units at 40 apiece.

On the merger watch, Northgate Minerals agreed to buy junior Young-Davidson Mines via an all-stock deal worth $20 million. Key to the deal is Young-Davidson’s Matachewan gold project, 60 km west of Kirkland Lake where open-pit measured and indicated resources total 6.8 million tonnes running 2.1 grams gold.