TSX moves lower, July 18-22

A state of emergency imposed in Turkey following a failed military coup, an attack at a shopping mall in Germany that left nine people dead, and the week-long Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, where Donald Trump accepted his party’s nomination as president, contributed to widespread volatility in the stock market. On the economic front, Canada reported its inflation rate in June rose 1.5% year-on-year. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 1.63% to 14,600.66 and the S&P/TSX Capped Metals & Mining Index dropped 2% to finish at 632.72. The S&P/TSX Global Mining Index lost 2.38% to 64.85, the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index ended 1.90% lower at 261.62 and the spot gold price declined 1.12% or US$15 per oz. to US$1,322.10 per oz.

Shares of Dominion Diamond rose 38¢ to $11.70. The company reported that development of the A-21 pipe continues to progress according to plan, and that it expects run-of-mine production in 2016 will total 7.1 million carats from 2.2 million tonnes mined. In addition to the 7.1 million carats produced from run of mine ore, there will be a small amount of production from coarse ore rejects, Dominion said. In the second quarter, volumes (0.54 million tonnes processed) were 5% lower than in the same quarter of the prior year due to lower ore availability. Diamonds recovered in the quarter (1.58 million carats) were on plan and were 26% lower than in the same quarter of the previous year, due to lower processing volumes and lower recovered grades.

Lucara Diamond finished the week 28¢ higher at $3.77 per share after announcing a special dividend. The board approved the return of $172 million to shareholders in a special dividend of 45¢ per share to holders of the company’s common shares. The special dividend will be paid in addition to the company’s existing 2016 quarterly dividend of 1.5¢ per share. The total dividend of 46.5¢ per share will be paid on Sept. 15. Elsewhere in the diamond space,  Mountain Province Diamonds’ shares climbed 15¢ to $6.25 on no news.

Shares of Corvus Gold were up 16¢ to $1.26. The junior closed a $2.6 million non-brokered private placement at $1.02 per share on July 18. Corvus Gold issued 2.55 million common shares with no warrant, representing about 2.8% of its outstanding common shares. The financing’s sole participant was Osisko Mining and the proceeds will be used to accelerate the exploration program at Corvus Gold’s North Bullfrog project in Nevada.

Candente Copper Corp. advanced 21.4% to 17¢ per share after the company reported that a $500,000 non-brokered private placement announced earlier this month was oversubscribed, and was increased to about $1 million. (The company is no longer accepting additional subscriptions.) About $400,000 of the funds will be used to further define drill targets on its Canariaco Sur copper-gold deposit and Quebrada Verde copper-gold target. The rest will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.