TSX up, June 21-25

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 1.15% to 20,230.26 during the June 21-25 trading week. The S&P/TSX Global Mining Index climbed 2.53% to 106.87, and the S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index soared 6.40% to 168.29. Spot gold increased by US$17.70 per oz., or 1%, to US$1,781.50 per oz., and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index fell 1.44% to 294.17.

Equinox Gold fell $1.02 to $8.84 per share. On June 22, the company announced that it had suspended operations at its Los Filos mine in Mexico after blockades by a group of unionized employees and members of the Xochipala community, both of whom are demanding payments in excess of their contractual agreements, it said. The Canadian miner had already suspended activities at the operation in September after locals blocked access. In November, the company withdrew 2020 production and cost guidance for the mine, which had been expected to produce 90,000-110,000 ounces of the company’s 470,000-530,000 total guided ounces of gold for the year. The Los Filos complex began commercial production in 2008. The operation consists of two large open pits (Los Filos and Bermejal) and one underground mine.

Shares of Newmont decreased by 63¢ to $77.10. The company has announced its first Climate Strategy Report. The report outlines Newmont’s climate-related risks and opportunities, strategic planning, and means of reaching its climate targets. The gold miner has set its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions 32% lower than current levels for scope one and two and 30% lower for scope three emissions. In 2020, the company committed US$500 million as part of its Carbon Reduction Fund to support the implementation of technologies, emissions reduction projects, and other climate change to initiatives to meet its 2030 targets. “Today we send a clear signal that Newmont has moved beyond managing climate change as a sustainability issue to incorporating these risks and opportunities into our business strategy and business planning process,” Tom Palmer, Newmont’s president and CEO, stated in a press release.

Lundin Mining dropped 2¢ to $11.31 per share. The company announced a nearly 14% drop in expected copper output from its Candelaria copper-gold mine in Chile. Lundin says it will be adjusting the near-term mining sequence in Phase 10 of the Candelaria open-pit operation for the second half of the year, which will impact the volume of direct ore mined and available for processing. Full-year guidance for Candelaria has been reduced to 155,000-150,000 tonnes of copper and 90,000-85,000 oz. of gold, compared with between 172,000 to 182,000 tonnes of copper and 95,000 to 100,000 gold ounces forecast previously. The open-pit contains known fault zones, and the mining plan calls for production to shift below the danger zones, the company said. The Candelaria complex is indirectly owned by Lundin Mining (80%) and Sumitomo (20%), with Lundin acquiring its ownership from Freeport-McMoRan in 2014.