As second-quarter earnings season approaches, investors have begun questioning whether recent gains in the stock market are sustainable. As such, the Fourth of July holiday-shortened reporting period of June 30-July 6 was one of loss for many of the usual mining powerhouses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.4% or 205 points to 8,325, while the S&P 500 index slid 3.1% or nearly 29 points to 927.
The Amex Gold Bugs index dropped 6.7% or 24 points to 329 and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index slid 6.5% or 9 points to 134.
Meanwhile, the price of gold fell US$11, from US$935.50 to US$924.50 per oz. — the lowest it’s been since May. Silver dipped about 7.4%, from $14.07 to $13.03 per oz.
Unsurprisingly, the big gold miners all lost ground. Newmont Mining shares tumbled US$2.87 to US$39.46 apiece and AngloGold Ashanti fell US$3.13 to US$34.85. Newmont recently bought the remaining 33% interest in the Boddington gold project from Anglo-Gold, and now owns 100% of the mine. Newmont paid US$750 million at closing, and is responsible for forking out another US$240 million in cash or shares and for a royalty capped at US$100 million. Startup at Boddington is expected this year.
Gold Fields shares fell US92¢ to US$11.47 though the company’s fourth-quarter guidance was increased by 4% to 905,000 oz. gold. Gold Fields also reopened its Driefontein gold mine in South Africa. The mine was shut down after an earthquake trapped five employees on June 20, killing two of them.
Another miner died at Harmony Gold Mining’s Phakisa mine, also in South Africa. An autopsy is being conducted as the cause of death is not known. Harmony shares fell 16.4% or US$1.77 over the period to close at US$8.98 per share.
Base metals miners also saw their shares retreat. Rio Tinto was the biggest loser of all the stocks, plunging US$20.72 per share to US$148.23. Rio is still improving its balance sheet after last year’s costly Alcan acquisition, which left the miner US$38 billion in debt. Most recently, Rio sold part of its food packaging business for US$1.2 billion after raising US$15.2 billion in a financing.
| U. S. most active issues | |||||
| VOLUME | WEEK | ||||
| (000s) | HIGH | LOW | CLOSE | CHANGE | |
| Golden Eagle* MYNG148132 | 0.00 | 1.0E8 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Alcoa* AA | 136205 | 10.62 | 9.03 | 9.26 | -1.18 |
| Freeport McMo*FCX | 74628 | 52.97 | 45.13 | 45.94 | -4.39 |
| PotashCSask* POT | 33854 | 97.75 | 89.13 | 95.46 | -0.13 |
| Kinross Gold* KGC | 27115 | 19.69 | 17.79 | 18.35 | -0.41 |
| Newmont Mng* NEM | 26644 | 42.73 | 38.70 | 39.46 | -2.87 |
| Mosaic* MOS | 26371 | 46.50 | 42.42 | 43.64 | -2.30 |
| Hecla Mining* HL | 26240 | 2.91 | 2.42 | 2.54 | -0.25 |
| Teck B* TCK | 26204 | 17.30 | 15.54 | 16.88 | + 0.82 |
| Barrick Gold* ABX | 25888 | 35.54 | 32.49 | 33.12 | -1.75 |
| U. S. greatest percentage change | ||||||
| VOLUME | WEEK | |||||
| (000s) | HIGH | LOW | CLOSE | CHANGE | ||
| Canarc Res* | CRCUF | 90 | 0.13 | 0.10 | 0.11 | + 37.5 |
| Ivanhoe Mines* | IVN | 15299 | 7.50 | 5.53 | 7.43 | + 34.1 |
| Crystallex In* | KRY | 2767 | 0.27 | 0.21 | 0.27 | + 28.5 |
| Entree Gold* | EGI | 671 | 1.25 | 0.96 | 1.22 | + 27.0 |
| Colombia Gldf* | CGDF | 920 | 0.05 | 0.04 | 0.05 | + 25.0 |
| Shoshone Silv* | SHSH | 189 | 0.12 | 0.09 | 0.12 | + 20.0 |
| Aurelio Res* | AULO | 40 | 0.08 | 0.06 | 0.08 | + 14.2 |
| Madison Minls* | MMRSF | 22 | 0.14 | 0.05 | 0.08 | + 14.2 |
| Puda Coal* | PUDC | 469 | 0.60 | 0.50 | 0.56 | + 12.0 |
| Strata O&G* | SOIGF | 1673 | 0.58 | 0.47 | 0.55 | + 10.0 |
| Apolo Gold* | APLL | 725 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | -50.0 |
| Elray Res* | ELRA | 79 | 0.28 | 0.21 | 0.21 | -25.0 |
| Commerce Grp* | CGCO | 25 | 0.09 | 0.06 | 0.07 | -22.2 |
| Keegan Res* | KGN | 253 | 3.01 | 2.24 | 2.40 | -20.5 |
| Global Gold* | GBGD | 42 | 0.10 | 0.08 | 0.08 | -20.0 |
| Bullion Monar* | BULM | 128 | 0.49 | 0.36 | 0.40 | -18.3 |
| Harmony Gold* | HMY | 13747 | 10.83 | 8.81 | 8.98 | -16.4 |
| Miranda Gold* | MRDDF | 78 | 0.35 | 0.30 | 0.31 | -16.2 |
| North Am En P* | NOA | 156 | 6.25 | 5.07 | 5.16 | -15.8 |
| Silvercorp Mt* | SVM | 183 | 3.79 | 3.24 | 3.24 | -14.2 |
| U. S. greatest value change | |||
| WEEK | |||
| VOLUME | CLOSE | CHANGE | |
| Ivanhoe Mines* IVN | 15298928 | 7.43 | + 1.89 |
| Seabridge Gld* SA | 1031220 | 26.52 | + 0.84 |
| Teck B* TCK | 26204299 | 16.88 | + 0.82 |
| OM Group* OMG | 1556086 | 28.52 | + 0.37 |
| Entree Gold* EGI | 671170 | 1.22 | + 0.26 |
| US Gold* UXG | 908300 | 2.64 | + 0.17 |
| L&L Intl Hldg* LLFH | 40828 | 2.98 | + 0.13 |
| DRDGOLD* DROOY | 711373 | 7.89 | + 0.13 |
| Minefinders* MFN | 1561512 | 7.23 | + 0.07 |
| Mines Managem* MGN | 114942 | 1.54 | + 0.06 |
| Rio Tinto* RTP | 3912550 | 148.23 | -20.72 |
| Randgold Res* GOLD | 4800906 | 61.15 | -5.48 |
| BHP Bill i-BHP* BHP |
19493679 | 50.71 | -4.69 |
| CONSOL Energy* CNX | 16482511 | 30.25 | -4.51 |
| Freeport McMo* FCX | 74627958 | 45.94 | -4.39 |
| Foundatn Coal* FCL | 7364315 | 24.81 | -3.86 |
| Royal Gold* RGLD | 2734304 | 39.04 | -3.84 |
| Alpha Nat Res* ANR | 15387976 | 23.22 | -3.53 |
| BHP Billi-BBL* BBL | 6386717 | 42.39 | -3.37 |
| Agnico-Eagle* AEM | 7668020 | 51.28 | -3.21 |
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