U.S. MARKETS -May 4-10

A US$1-trillion emergency rescue package to contain Greece’s debt crisis is not a long-term fix for the problems afflicting Europe but was enough to resurrect U.S. equity markets after their biggest-ever — and still unexplained — intra-day crash of 1,000 points on May 6. The Dow Jones industrial average during the May 4-10 reporting period dropped 141.63 points or 1.3% to finish at 10,785.14, while the S&P 500 index dropped 13.87 points or 1.2% to close at 1,159.73.

The panic sell-off in equities sent gold prices within striking distance of their all-time high of US$1,227.50 per oz. reached in December 2009. Spot gold prices in New York closed at US$1,172.20 per oz. on May 4, surged to US$1,208.80 at the close of markets on May 6, before settling at US$1,202.70 per oz. on May 10. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver index climbed 2.29 points or 1.3% to 176.68.

Gold companies are enjoying the flight to the precious metal with Barrick Gold up US$1.09 to US$43.91 per share. Lihir Gold’s agreement to be acquired by Newcrest Mining in a deal valuing the company at A$9.5 billion sent the company’s shares up US$1.74 to US$35.33, while Peru’s Buenaventura jumped 5.7% or US$1.85 to US$34.23 per share. Buenaventura and partner Gold Fields have just discovered a major gold-copper-silver deposit in their Chucapaca project area in southern Peru called Canahuire, which has an inferred resource of 83.7 million tonnes grading 1.9 grams gold per tonne, 0.09% copper and 8.2 grams silver.

Fall-out from Australia’s proposed mining tax, meanwhile, is starting to bite, with Peabody Energy reducing its takeover offer for MacArthur Coal. Under Peabody’s revised proposal, Macarthur shareholders would receive a cash price of A$15 per share, valuing Macarthur at A$3.8 billion under a scheme of arrangement.

Rio Tinto bounced back on good news out of Mongolia, rising US$1.91 to US$49.83. Ivanhoe Mines announced a new mine plan for the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project that could boost copper production by 50% and gold output by 126%. Ivanhoe says it now expects average annual production of 1.2 billion lbs. copper and 650,000 oz. gold for the first 10 years of production. Rio Tinto owns about 22.4% of Ivanhoe and has options to boost that stake to 46.6% over the next two years. Ivanhoe holds a 66% interest in Oyu Tolgoi. Its shares rose 65¢ to close at US$16.20 per share.

U.S. most active issues
	VOLUME		WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	267404	12.94	11.25	12.59	-0.53
Freeport McMo*FCX	123409	73.49	65.00	72.50	-1.24
Barrick Gold* ABX	83625	44.33	41.63	43.91	+ 1.09
Hecla Mining* HL	76967	5.88	5.32	5.83	-0.10
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	75832	61.40	50.80	61.18	+ 2.23
Goldcorp* GG	63518	44.14	41.30	43.50	+ 0.80
Newmont Mng* NEM	62962	55.70	52.28	55.49	+ 0.56
Silver Wheatn* SLW	56226	19.74	17.45	19.20	-0.61
Kinross Gold* KGC	55314	18.77	17.11	17.37	-1.33
Vale* VALE	55279	29.78	25.33	29.58	-0.52

U.S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
America West*	AWSR	1187	0.22	0.09	0.20	+100.0
Apolo Gold*	APLL	492	0.02	0.01	0.02	+100.0
Crystallex In*	KRY	3748	0.50	0.38	0.49	+ 16.6
Tri-Valley*	TIV	878	1.30	1.06	1.29	+ 13.1
Tombstone Exp*	TMBXF	486	0.12	0.08	0.11	+ 10.0
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	155	0.30	0.21	0.25	+ 8.7
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	36	0.27	0.20	0.25	+ 8.7
Alumina Inc*	AWC	3532	6.22	5.10	6.18	+ 7.4
Buenaventura*	BVN	10038	34.38	30.79	34.23	+ 5.7
Tanz Roy Exp*	TRE	2024	4.88	4.31	4.72	+ 5.3
Habanero Res*	HBNRF	104	0.11	0.08	0.08	-27.2
SinoCoking Cl*	SCOK	202	21.80	16.27	16.68	-23.7
Elray Res*	ELRA	242	0.11	0.08	0.08	-20.0
Uranium Res*	URRE	2603	0.65	0.50	0.53	-19.7
Affinity Gold*	AFYG	950	0.14	0.08	0.09	-18.1
Li3 Energy*	LIEG	1313	0.67	0.48	0.55	-16.6
Fischer-W Gld*	FWGO	53	0.06	0.05	0.05	-16.6
Canarc Res*	CRCUF	193	0.11	0.08	0.10	-16.6
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	823	0.55	0.44	0.47	-16.0
Caledonia Mng*	CALVF	927	0.07	0.06	0.06	-14.2

U.S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Compass Mnls*	CMP	1293100	78.79	+ 2.62
Cliffs Nat Rs*	CLF	75831560	61.18	+ 2.23
Rio Tinto*	RTP	35665795	49.83	+ 1.91
Buenaventura*	BVN	10038428	34.23	+ 1.85
Lihir Gold*	LIHR	2417715	35.33	+ 1.74
Barrick Gold*	ABX	83624996	43.91	+ 1.09
Goldcorp*	GG	63518396	43.50	+ 0.80
Ivanhoe Mines*	IVN	17505595	16.20	+ 0.65
Eldorado Gold*	EGO	9187100	16.18	+ 0.64
Harry Winston*	HWD	532300	1 1.56	+ 0.58
Potash C Sask*	POT	31318120	103.76	-5.31
SinoCoking Cl*	SCOK	202314	16.68	-5.18
OM Group*	OMG	1826477	34.83	-3.54
Cabot Corp*	CBT	2553196	29.91	-3.34
Agrium*	AGU	3962200	59.05	-3.33
Consol Energy*	CNX	37161846	41.70	-2.75
Mosaic*	MOS	33233686	48.73	-2.20
Alliance Rs P*	ARLP	1181189	46.63	-1.92
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	32645163	44.52	-1.74
Massey Energy*	MEE	44375503	35.77	-1.72