U.S. Markets February 28-March 6

Rate-hike and gold-price jitters took their toll on U.S. markets over the report period Feb. 28-March 6, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down 15.86 points at 1,278.26. Senior gold companies shed some of their recent gains, and also took a back seat to juniors that were the biggest gainers and most-active stocks over the topsy-turvy trading session.

The big newsmaker was U.S. Gold, which, under new chairman Robert McEwen, launched takeover offers for four junior companies with exploration projects in Nevada. McEwen’s goal is to consolidate the landholdings and “build the premier exploration company” in the state. U.S. Gold jumped US$1.24 to US$6.24 on the news, while Coral Gold, one of the takeover targets, gained almost US$1 to US$3.69.

UNICO was the most-active trader, following a recent reverse stock-split and other changes to its capital structure. The company holds three historic mines in Utah, but trades at a fraction of a cent.

Silverado Gold Mines continued its slide and lost another US3.2 to close at US12. The company holds a placer gold property in Alaska, while subsidiary Silverado Green Fuel is developing an “environmentally friendly oil substitute produced from low-rank coal.”

Goldspring was the third-most-active trader, down a fraction of a cent to US2. The company recently launched a program to “improve operating efficiencies” at the Plum gold-silver mine in the Comstock region of Nevada. The open-pit project is reported to have started production in late 2004, but few details of production and costs have been released since then.

Junior World Ventures was the largest percentage gainer, almost doubling to US38 from US18. The company is headed by Ray Carson and has early stage gold projects in Ontario’s Cobalt region and Nevada’s Walker Lane trend.

New Jersey Mining gained US23 to US65 after announcing plans to revive several gold-silver mine projects in the Coeur d’Alene district of northern Idaho.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
World Vent*	WVNTF	274	0.50	0.18	0.38	+90.0
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	656	0.65	0.42	0.65	+54.7
Geocom Res*	GOCM	188	0.38	0.23	0.36	+52.5
Little Squaw*	LITS	289	0.74	0.40	0.63	+34.0
Minco Mng&Mtl*	MMK	414	2.51	1.84	2.45	+30.3
Coral Gold*	CGREF	480	3.75	2.745	3.69	+26.8
Lafayette Mng*	LYMGF	103	0.10	0.06	0.10	+25.0
US Gold*	USGL	1662	6.37	5.00	6.24	+24.8
Kimber Res*	KBX	956	2.75	2.08	2.56	+23.6
Minera Andes*	MNEAF	3561	0.94	0.75	0.94	+22.0
Bay Res*	BYRE	25	0.95	0.55	0.55	-52.1
UNICO Inc*	UNCN	326306	0.002	0.001	0.002	-33.3
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	818	0.36	0.19	0.21	-32.2
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	162	0.26	0.20	0.20	-23.0
Great China M*	GCHA	1009	0.22	0.17	0.17	-22.7
Silverado*	SLGLF	64402	0.16	0.105	0.12	-21.0
Goldspring*	GSPG	37201	0.026	0.02	0.02	-20.0
Trend Mng*	TRDM	329	0.19	0.155	0.155	-13.8
Gold Fields*	GFI	20639	23.48	19.17	19.65	-12.5
Grand Cen Sil*	GSLM	64	1.00	0.80	0.88	-12.0

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Southern Peru*	PCU	6247800	81.71	+3.23
Goldcorp*	GG	14656900	28.09	+2.88
Aber Diamond*	ABER	69663	40.23	+2.49
Lihir Gold*	LIHRY	291119	33.85	+2.47
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	134000	43.59	+2.04
Arch Coal*	ACI	6853400	74.93	+1.88
Fording C C T*	FDG	2827600	42.10	+1.76
Gammon Lk Res*	GRS	1330200	17.83	+1.73
CONSOL Energy*	CNX	4525700	65.62	+1.58
Cameco Corp*	CCJ	7314000	37.92	+1.49
Rio Tinto*	RTP	1318900	185.52	-5.21
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	91400	118.58	-3.87
Newmont Mng*	NEM	32674700	50.83	-3.85
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	389000	59.05	-3.66
AngloGold Ash*	AU	6148800	49.71	-3.11
Kerr McGee*	KMG	6256400	95.54	-2.99
Gold Fields*	GFI	20638900	19.65	-2.83
Potash C Sask*	POT	4399800	93.39	-2.66
Buenaventura*	BVN	3737900	24.36	-2.64
Massey Energy*	MEE	11697400	35.07	-2.33

U.S. most active issues

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		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
UNICO Inc*	UNCN	326306	0.002	0.001	0.002	-0.001
Silverado*	SLGLF	64402	0.16	0.105	0.12	-0.032
Goldspring*	GSPG	37201	0.026	0.02	0.02	-0.005
Newmont Mng*	NEM	32675	54.85	50.21	50.83	-3.85
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	21991	6.23	5.40	5.75	+0.26
Gold Fields*	GFI	20639	23.48	19.17	19.65	-2.83
DRDGOLD*	DROOY	20231	1.63	1.39	1.46	+0.04
Alcoa*	AA	16997	30.70	29.07	29.80	+0.24
Barrick Gold*	ABX	14846	28.45	27.02	27.50	+0.14
Goldcorp*	GG	14657	28.96	25.06	28.09	+2.88