TSX moves higher, Aug. 3-7

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 2.32% to 16,544.48 during the Aug. 3-7 trading week. The S&P/TSX Global Mining Index climbed 1.41% to 102.65, and the S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index advanced 6.13% to 88.132. Spot gold jumped US$58.70 per oz., or 2.97%, to US$2,034.80 per oz., while the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index fell 0.79% to 341.33.

Gold Standard Ventures’ shares jumped 29.63% to $1.40. The company announced plans for the first phase of its exploration and development program at its South Railroad heap leach gold project, about 24 km south-southeast of Carlin, Nevada. The company said the program will include about 20,410 metres of reverse-circulation and core drilling in 136 holes. There are three drill rigs currently operating at the project. Funds for the program were secured through an at-the-market equity program on Apr. 17, which raised net proceeds of nearly $14 million, and a non-brokered private placement with Orion Mine Finance in mid-July that generated a further $6.95 million. Orion purchased about 6.62 million common shares of Gold Standard Ventures at $1.05 apiece.

Trevali Mining rose to 12.5¢ per share, up 25%. The company announced that it had entered into a second amended and restated revolving credit facility with a syndicate of lenders for up to US$150 million. It has also entered into an up to US$20 million secured facility agreement with Glencore Canada, an affiliate of Glencore, the company’s largest shareholder. (Glencore holds a 26.3% interest in the company.) The funds will put the company’s liquidity concerns behind it and allow management to focus on delivering its T90 improvement program, launched in November 2019, which is targeting an overall reduction in all-in sustaining costs to 90¢ per payable lb. zinc by 2021, and the permanent de-levering of its balance sheet. The T90 program is forecast to deliver US$43 million in recurring, annualised efficiencies in 2020, of which US$30 million had been achieved by the end of the second quarter, according to the company.

B2Gold climbed 0.86% to $9.36 per share. The company reported strong second-quarter results with consolidated gold production of 239,574 ounces, above budget by 3%, and a 15% increase from the same quarter a year ago. The higher production was largely driven by its Fekola mine in Mali. The company posted net income of US$138 million, compared with US$41 million in the second quarter of 2019, while cash flow from operating activities reached a quarterly record of US$238 million, up from US$93 million in the year-earlier quarter. Consolidated all-in sustaining costs were US$714 per oz. sold. B2Gold expects consolidated production in 2020 of between 1 million and 1.06 million ounces at AISCs of between US$780 and US$820 per ounce. At the end of June, B2Gold had cash and equivalents of US$628 million, and debt of US$471 million.