TSX declines, Sept. 22-26

The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 238.58 points during the trading week to end at 15,026.77. The S&P/TSX Global Gold Index stayed relatively flat at 170.72 points, while the spot price for gold added US$3.20 per oz. to US$1,219.40. The S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index fell 2.55 points to 815.67.

B2Gold was the most traded stock, with 38.5 million shares changing hands. On Sept. 22, the gold miner announced that Australia’s federal court has approved its all-share acquisition of Papillon Resources. The junior’s shareholders will receive 0.661 of a B2Gold share for every Papillon share held on Sept. 26, 2014.The transaction should close on Oct. 3. B2Gold slipped 10¢ to end at $2.28.

Toronto-based Barrick Gold saw heavy trading during the week on no major news, slipping 8¢ to $17.02 on 10 million shares traded.

On Sept. 29, Barrick said that it would be the official metal supplier for the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in Toronto, where it will supply raw materials for more than 4,000 gold, silver and bronze medals awarded at the games. It will source the metals from its mines throughout the Americas. The firm has 14 operations in six Pan American countries: Canada, the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan topped the value-gaining chart, adding 48¢ to $39.16, on no major news. The fertilizer major will release its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 23.

First Quantum Minerals gained 39¢ to close at $22, despite reporting on Sept. 18 that it had suspended its Guelb Moghrein copper-gold mine in Mauritania due to a labour dispute with some unionized workers. On Sept. 30, the firm resumed operations at Guelb Moghrein, having resolved the work stoppage. The miner estimates the strike resulted in a production loss of 2,800 tonnes copper and 3,500 oz. gold.

Northern Dynasty Minerals reported on Sept. 24 that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would hold off its Clean Water Act Section 404 regulatory process for the proposed Pebble copper-gold mine in Alaska until Jan. 2, 2015, pending results of the federal court proceedings.

Northern Dynasty has two cases of pending litigation against EPA. The first challenges EPA’s statutory authority to pre-emptively impose development restrictions on Pebble before the company has submitted a development plan. The second charges that EPA did not follow procedures while preparing the Bristol Bay assessment study, which provides the basis for the Section 404 regulatory process.

On Sept. 26, the U.S. federal court in Alaska granted a motion to dismiss the company’s first case against EPA. Northern Dynasty says the ruling has just postponed the case depending on whether the EPA rejects Pebble before it files for a permit under the Clean Water Act. Shares closed the week up 16% at 64¢.

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