Wall Street rises, Nov. 21–25

U.S. equities ended holiday-shortened trading in positive territory. The S&P 500 Index rose 1.4% to 2,213.35, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.5% to 19,152.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.5% to 5,398.92. January futures for crude oil and Brent crude both rose 0.8% to settle at US$46.06 and US$47.24 per barrel. Spot gold lost nearly 2% to end at US$1,183.60 per ounce.

Hudbay Minerals’ shares jumped 23% to US$7. The company updated the technical report for its Constancia copper-gold mine in Peru, which includes the mine plan, resources and reserves, and capital costs for the remaining mine life. Constancia’s mine plan includes the high-grade Pampacancha satellite deposit and pegs average annual production at 110,000 tonnes copper-in-concentrate over the next five years, starting in 2017. Average cash costs and sustaining costs, net of gold credits, are US97¢ and US$1.27 per lb. copper. Hudbay aims to  mine Pampacancha in 2018, noting the estimated total project capital is US$54 million. Contained copper reserves grew 34% from 2017 through the end of the mine life compared to the 2012 technical report.

Teck Resources rose 12.8% to US$25.69 per share, after it made several announcements during the week. The diversified miner signed an agreement to acquire all the shares of AQM Copper that it did not already own. Teck will offer 23¢ per AQM share. The total cash consideration payable to AQM security holders is $25 million. AQM’s main asset is a 30% indirect interest in the Zafranal copper-gold project in Peru, where Teck has a 50% indirect interest. After the anticipated January 2017 takeover, Teck will increase its stake in Zafranal to 80%. Mitsubishi Minerals Corp. holds the other 20%.

After strong spot prices for steelmaking coal, Teck has updated its coal price guidance for the fourth quarter. Expected average blended realized price for all of its steelmaking coal products should range between US$200 and US$250 per tonne, compared to US$185 per tonne previously. Guidance for sales volume is the same at 6.5 million tonnes.  Teck plans to pay a dividend of 5¢ per share on its outstanding Class-A shares and Class-B subordinate voting shares on Dec. 30 to shareholders on record as of mid-December.