Wheaton River trades heavily

The report period July 14-20 saw the price of gold close down US90. The precious metal fell US$6.35 on July 20 to finish at US$400 per oz. in the afternoon in London. The gold index was down by 2.7%, or 5.53 points, to close at 197.44. The diversified metals and mining index closed up 1.1%, or 2.54 points, to close at 226.08. The S&P TSX composite index was down 0.04%, or 34.06 points, to finish at 8,418.54 points.

Over the week, just two mining stocks traded more than 10 million shares each.

Wheaton River led the way in volume, slipping 5.7%, or 22, to close at $3.66 on a volume of 18.96 million shares. The company announced it plans to sell the silver produced from its Luismin mining operations in Mexico to Chap Mercantile.

Noranda traded 8.7 million shares and rose 6.3%, or $1.23, to close at $24.14. A U.S. bankruptcy court approved an agreement whereby subsidiaries of Noranda and Century Aluminum will each buy a half-interest in the Gramercy alumina refinery in Louisiana and an approximate half-interest in the St. Ann bauxite mine in Jamaica, from Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical for US$23 million.

Queenstake Resources traded 8.1 million shares. The shares fell 7%, or 4, to close at 53. Queenstake reported a 26% increase in production over the first quarter at its Jerritt Canyon mine in Nevada. During the quarter, the mill processed 323,782 tons of ore grading 0.2 oz. gold per ton and produced 61,247 oz. gold. Gold recovery averaged 91%.

Kinross Gold traded 7.96 million shares and fell 1.7%, or 13 to close at $7.42. Kinross announced it had acquired 12.67%, of the issued and outstanding shares of Anatolia Minerals Development.

Anatolia is busy with advanced exploration for gold and base metals in Turkey. Anatolia shares closed up 5%, or 6, to finish at $1.26 on a volume of 1.6 million shares. The company released drill results from its Karapinar and Sin prospects. Three holes on each prospect generally returned less than 0.5% copper and 0.3 gram gold per tonne. Shares fell 13% on the news, though fewer than 50,000 shares traded hands.

Golden Star Resources shares were down 9.8%, or 65, to close at $5.97. Iamgold adopted a “poison pill” to try to stop Golden Star’s takeover bid. The plan could sharply increase the number of Iamgold shares, making Golden Star’s bid much more expensive. Golden Star reported it will require just 50.1% of Iamgold’s shareholders to tender its bid, down from the original 66.7%. Iamgold traded 5.29 million shares and fell 4.7%, or 41, to $8.23.

Guyana Goldfields gained 26%, or 32, to close at $1.55 on a volume of 1.6 million shares. The company released drill results from its Aurora mine property in Guyana. Highlighting the drilling was a 74-metre intercept grading 4 grams gold per tonne.

Moneta Porcupine Mines shot up 20% on low-volume trading of 46,000 shares to close at 15. There was no news to account for the rise.

Sudbury Contact Mines traded 71,000 shares and rose 19% to close at $1.25. The company announced it has increased its land package around its two kimberlite pipes on the Timiskaming diamond project to 360 sq. km from 75 sq. km.