U.S. MARKETS -Sept. 20-24

Economic uncertainty along with worries about European debt levels, coupled with comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it was prepared to take action to help the recovery and lift inflation and a wider belief that central banks will prolong quantitative easing to stimulate growth, helped push up gold prices by US$18.50 per oz. during the Sept. 20-24 trading week. The spot price for the precious metal closed at US$1,297 per oz. in New York on Sept. 24, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index rose 5.4 points or 2.8% to 197.08. U.S. equities continued their September rally with the Dow Jones industrial average advancing 252.41 points or 2.4% to close at 10,860.26 points, and the S&P 500 index climbing 23.08 points or 2.1% to finish at 1,148.67. In the month to Sept. 24, the S&P 500 index has rallied 9.5%, its “biggest September gain since 1939,” Bloomberg reports.

Precious metals companies were the most actively traded U.S. equities during the week with 55.8 million shares of Kinross Gold changing hands and 53.7 million shares moving of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. The latter closed US$4.89 higher at US$86.81 per share. And with silver prices gaining nearly 30% so far this year, shares of Silver Wheaton edged up US$1.58 to US$26.60 apiece on 44.3 million shares traded.

On the potash front, Compass Minerals posted the biggest gain with an advance of US$7.19 per share to close at US$79.49. The Kansas City-company announced plans by its wholly owned subsidiary, Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp., to further expand its sulphate of potash (SOP) specialty fertilizer production capacity in Utah. The company said it planned to use new, patent-pending solar-pond technology to improve the efficiency of its existing pond system by 60% to produce roughly 220,000 additional tons of SOP annually. Upon completion, the company’s total pond-based SOP capacity will be about 570,000 tons per year. Production will increase incrementally through 2015, with some new capacity available starting in 2012.

By contrast, continued speculation about the future ownership of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan caused its shares to slide US$1.28 to US$146 apiece.

U.S. most active issues
	VOLUME		WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	166302	12.25	10.99	12.20	+ 1.03
Kinross Gold* KGC	55822	19.48	18.30	19.00	+ 0.80
Freeport McMo* FCX	53740	87.47	80.96	86.61	+ 4.89
Barrick Gold* ABX	48427	47.55	44.91	46.37	+ 0.38
Silver Wheatn* SLW	44274	27.04	23.92	26.60	+ 1.58
Hecla Mining* HL	41526	6.44	6.09	6.25	+ 0.13
Silverado* SLGLF	40428	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00
Vale* VALE	34610	30.10	27.64	30.04	+ 2.19
Goldcorp* GG	33409	44.96	42.80	43.81	+ 1.15
Newmont Mng* NEM	32476	65.50	61.96	63.40	+ 0.39

U.S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Canarc Res*	CRCUF	89	0.10	0.06	0.08	+ 60.0
Tri-Valley*	TIV	997	0.82	0.51	0.80	+ 56.8
Madison Minls*	MMRSF	53	0.14	0.10	0.14	+ 40.0
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	1071	0.14	0.11	0.14	+ 40.0
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	20	0.07	0.07	0.07	+ 40.0
Rare Elemt Re*	REE	7611	7.94	5.76	7.84	+ 32.2
Minera Andes*	MNEAF	5398	1.60	1.07	1.42	+ 31.4
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	1450	0.56	0.45	0.54	+ 22.7
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	97	0.17	0.11	0.17	+ 21.4
Linux Gold*	LNXGF	590	0.07	0.05	0.06	+ 20.0
America West*	AWSR	582	0.08	0.05	0.05	-28.5
Affinity Gold*	AFYG	191	0.11	0.09	0.09	-25.0
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	508	0.05	0.03	0.04	-20.0
Strata O&G*	SOIGF	425	0.18	0.15	0.15	-16.6
Crystallex In*	KRY	4324	0.42	0.37	0.38	-9.5
Goldfield*	GV	44	0.33	0.30	0.31	-8.8
Tara Gold*	TRGD	808	0.50	0.42	0.45	-8.1
PolyMet Mng*	PLM	2448	2.10	1.85	1.93	-8.1
Habanero Res*	HBNRF	271	0.12	0.10	0.12	-7.6
Mag Silver*	MVG	74	8.17	7.54	7.66	-6.4

< td>Seabridge Gld*

U.S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Compass Mnls*	CMP	448013	79.49	+ 7.19
Freeport McMo*	FCX	53739515	86.61	+ 4.89
Randgold Res*	GOLD	4103171	102.23	+ 4.06
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	14250444	75.95	+ 3.42
Ivanhoe Mines*	IVN	17545231	23.67	+ 3.34
BHP Billi-BBL*	BBL	6216382	63.74	+ 2.97
Rio Tinto*	RTP	13471107	58.69	+ 2.95
Agrium*	AGU	1870299	77.18	+ 2.56
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	20159116	49.19	+ 2.19
Vale*	VALE	34609645	30.04	+ 2.19
Potash C Sask*	POT	24187997	146.00	-1.28
Eldorado Gold*	EGO	5528681	18.25	-1.25
SA	1398553	29.45	-0.65
Mag Silver*	MVG	73580	7.66	-0.53
Exeter Res*	XRA	189619	6.52	-0.36
Royal Gold*	RGLD	2562836	50.07	-0.34
US Gold*	UXG	907335	4.99	-0.26
Puda Coal*	PUDA	61701	6.76	-0.24
Fronteer Gold*	FRG	5253833	7.11	-0.21
PolyMet Mng*	PLM	2448217	1.93	-0.17