US stocks climb, Aug. 11-15

It was a good week for U.S. equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 109 points to 16,662.91, while the broader S&P 500 Index jumped 23 points to 1,955.06. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index added 94 points to 4,464.93.

China’s SinoCoking Coal and Coke Chemical Industries rose nearly 17% on no news to close at US$2.29 after reaching a 52-week high of US$2.38. In mid-July, it started a 60-day testing and calibration phase at its green facility, which will convert carbon dioxide into a clean-burning synthetic gas. At full capacity, the facility should generate 25,000 cubic metres of syngas per hour. It expects syngas sales to generate up to 50% more gross profit margin than any other SinoCoking product. The firm intends to change its name to Clean Synthetic Technologies Corp., pending shareholder approval. 

Seabridge Gold rose 13% to US$10.68 after reporting its second-quarter financials. The junior posted a $3.8-million net loss, or 8¢ per share, down from a net loss of $5.7 million, or 13¢ per share, a year ago. During the quarter, it spent $6.3 million on its projects, namely the KSM gold–copper project in B.C. and the Courageous Lake gold project in the Northwest Territories, compared to $8.2 million during the same period last year. It ended June with a working capital of $18.7 million.

Junior gold miner Banro fell nearly 21% to a new 52-week low of US18¢, after reporting a second-quarter loss of US$3 million, or negative US1¢ per share, relatively in line with the loss experienced in the same period last year. It ended the quarter with US6.5 million in cash and equivalents.

On Aug. 18, Banro revealed a financing plan to increase its liquidity and reach full production capacity at Namoya, its second gold mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after Twangiza.

Under the plan it closed a US$35.5-million liquidity backstop facility, and signed a memorandum of understanding with a private gold group for a US$41-million gold-forward sale and a US$80-million gold-streaming deal. Both should close in October 2014. Banro also named Kevin Jennings as its new CFO, effective Sept. 1.

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