TSX down with all the rest, Feb. 21-25

The Toronto Stock Exchange was closed for the Family Day holiday on Monday Feb. 21. When trading resumed, the TSX composite index dropped 70.98 points or 0.50% to finish the abbreviated trading week at 14,052.13, while the S&P/TSX Capped Metals & Mining index lost 44.88 points or 3.03% to close at 1,438.15. Twenty-six companies on the TSX reached new 52-week highs, while eight fell to new 52-week lows.

Golden Predator jumped 20.4% to $1 per share. The junior, which has three advanced gold projects in the Yukon and a pipeline of six prospects, announced it had kicked off its winter drill program at Brewery Creek and Grew Creek. This year Golden Predator hopes to complete an initial 43-101 resource estimate for Grew Creek and update its existing resource at Brewery Creek. The Brewery Creek winter drill program is intended to expand upon the 2010 discovery at the Bohemian zone where the company encountered ore-grade intercepts including 56.5 metres of 3.20 grams gold per tonne starting from a depth of 27 metres. At Grew Creek, work is focused on the Carlos discovery zone, where the company hit mineralization in all three late-season holes, including 146.3 metres of 1.72 grams gold beginning at a depth of 40 metres.

News of a proposed $8.1 million investment by strategic investor China Metallurgical Exploration Corp. sent the shares of Acadian Mining up 17.9% to 46¢ apiece.  If warrants are exercised following the private placement, Acadian could raise a further $5.4 million. The proceeds of the investment will go towards the junior’s gold exploration program. China Metallurgical Exploration is owned by Zhengyuan International Mining, a Chinese state-owned company. On Feb. 22 Acadian also announced a binding agreement to sell its zinc and lead assets for $10 million to Selwyn Resources.

Base metal miner Ivernia jumped 14.2% to 40¢ on two pieces of good news. On Feb. 23 the company announced it was resuming operations at its Magellan mine in Western Australia. A temporary shutdown of mining and processing operations began on Jan. 5 due to environmental concerns. But an independent review commissioned by the Office of the Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia has confirmed that no lead in container air samples exceeded the baseline and that there is no risk from the transport process of double-lined bags within sealed shipping containers. On Feb. 25, it announced that in the three months ended Dec. 31 2010, production of lead in concentrate from the Magellan mine increased 16% over the third quarter to 16,900 tonnes, while recoveries increased to an average of 78%, up from an average for the full year of 74%.

Silver Wheaton was up $1.18 and closed the trading week at $39.86 per share on no news. Silver prices reached their highest peak in thirty-one years on Feb. 22, and have gone up a total of 9.3% so far this year.