TSX comes back to life

The TSX Composite Index came back to life for the holiday shortened Oct. 11-14 period and finished 235 points higher than where it began at 12,081.73 points. The positive swing came as fears surrounding the European debt crisis subsided – for the time being – and better than expected earnings were reported in the retail sector.

Gold began to march back upwards as the yellow metal climbed US$5 to US$1,683.00 per oz. and the Global Gold Index moved in the same direction as it was up three points to 399.78 points.

Base metal prices were a schizophrenic bunch as copper, nickel and lead prices moved higher while aluminum, tin and zinc prices fell. The Capped Metals & Mining Index was up 43 points to 1,009.97 points.

Coro Mining’s shares made the largest gain by percentage as they were up 88% to 47¢ for the period after the company announced it had intercepted 0.67% copper over 144 metres and 74 metres at 0.60% copper at its Chacay property in Chile. The property is located 12-km southeast of Teck Resources Relincho copper project.

It was a good news, bad news period for First Uranium, but fortunately for its shareholders, the good news won out and its shares were up 61% to 29¢. The good news came from production results as the company reported an increase in gold sales of 17.7% to 40,529 oz. for the quarter, while Uranium production was up 76.8% to 36,006 lbs. The bad news had to do with the South African government withdrawing the mining rights for its Mine Waste Solutions project. The company said the project continues to operate, however, as it believes the new order mining right the government calls for is not required.

The merger of B2Gold and Auryx Gold had the latter’s shares climbing. Auryx shares were up 56% to 72¢ for the period. The deal will see Auryx shareholders get 0.23 of a B2Gold share and 0.1¢ in cash for each share held. Analysts note based on B2Gold’s closing price of $3.30 on the day of the offer, the transaction implies a share valuation of 76¢ a piece for Auryx, a 65% premium to Auryx’s closing price on Oct. 7 and a dollar value for the deal of $138 million. Once consummated B2Gold will wind up with Auryx’s 92% interest in the Otjikoto gold project in Namibia.

And Avnel Gold received a 33% boost to its equity valuation, as its shares finished the period at 52¢. The company announced that its latest exploration program had cut 60,000 metres of diamond RC holes at its 80% owned Kalana permit in Mali. The program is being operated by Iamgold, which can earn a 51% interest Kalana by spending US$11 million on exploration activities over a three year period and by delivering a resource estimate of at least 2 million oz. of gold.