U.S. equities down during Aug. 29-Sept. 2 trading week

U.S. equities didn’t have a great week. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 44.28 points or 0.39% to finish the Aug. 29-Sept. 2 trading week at 11,240.26, while the S&P 500 index lost 2.83 points or 0.24% to close at 1,173.97. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver index jumped 6.85 points or 3.17% to 222.79. The price of gold rose 3.01% from its New York close of US$1,829.10 per oz. on Aug. 26 to its close on Sept. 2 of US$1,884.20 per oz.

Shares of Cornerstone Capital Resources surged 41.1% to close at 24¢ apiece following reports of 1.34% copper and 58 grams silver per tonne over 19.5 metres in trenching at its La Fortuna copper-silver project in Chile, about 100 km north of Santiago. Significant copper and silver assay results have been obtained in the northern two-thirds of the property, with seven prospective mineralized zones identified over 18 sq km. The La Fortuna property is partly contiguous with the Cerro Negro copper (silver) mine, a manto-type deposit immediately to the west, which combines open pit and underground operations and produces copper cathodes through heap leach SX-EW and copper-silver concentrates via flotation.

Royal Gold added US$4.14 per share to close the week at US$78.97. The royalty company announced a fourth-quarter dividend of 11¢ per common share on Aug. 30. The dividend is payable on Oct. 14 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 30. Shares of Goldcorp., meanwhile, ended the week at US$54.71 per share, a gain of US$2.74. On Sept. 1, Goldcorp, Xstrata Copper and Yamana finalized a four-year option agreement on Agua Rica, a feasibility stage project in Argentina. The definitive agreement provides Minera Alumbrera the exclusive option to acquire Yamana’s 100% interest in the project. Minera Alumbrera is a joint venture operation between Xstrata Copper (50%), Goldcorp (37.5%) and Yamana (12.5%) that currently operates the Alumbrera mine.

AuRico Gold‘s $1.46 billion takeover offer for Northgate Minerals sent the latter’s shares up 34.6% or US$1.09 to close at US$4.24 per share. Shares of AuRico closed down US$1.78 at US$12.14. The all-stock friendly deal puts an end to Northgate’s plans in July to buy Primero Mining Corp. for $370 million. Under the agreement, AuRico will pay 0.365 of a common share for each Northgate common share. The offer represents a 45% premium to Northgate’s shareholders. Northgate owns the Young-Davidson project in Ontario, the Kemess mine in B.C., and the Fosterville and Stawell mines in Australia.