U.S. stocks continue upward march, Nov. 17-21

Stock indexes rose for the fifth straight week as China cut its one-year benchmark lending rates for the first time in more than two years and expectations increased that the European Central Bank would help stimulate Europe’s struggling economies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1% to 17,810.06, the S&P 500 Index added 1.2% to 2,063.50 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.5% to 4,712.97. The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index climbed 4.2% to 73.77.

Cliffs Natural Resources is looking at exit strategies for its Eastern Canadian iron ore operations — options that include closing the Bloom Lake mine in Quebec. In a Nov. 19 press release CEO Lourenco Goncalves said that “despite the continued interest of the prospective equity partners in Bloom Lake and its high-quality ore, the potential investment is not achievable within a time frame acceptable to Cliffs. With expansion no longer viable, we have shifted our focus to executing an exit option for Eastern Canadian operations that minimizes the cash outflows and associated liabilities.” The company had disclosed previously that making Bloom Lake viable would require a US$1.2-billion investment in a phase-two expansion. Closure costs are expected to run US$650 million to US$700 million in the next five years. Cliffs’s shares fell US78¢ to US$9.91.

Markets appear to have welcomed two executive appointments at Barrick Gold. On Nov. 18 Barrick appointed Shaun Usmar as senior executive vice-president and chief financial officer and Sergio Fuentes as executive project director for the Pascua-Lama project. The company’s shares advanced US57¢ to US$12.85.

Shares of Nevsun Resources climbed 16% to US$4.19 as it confirmed it had recently received “expressions of interest on a potential corporate transaction,” but said it was “not aware of a bid for the company.” The next day, Nevsun said it would defend itself against a lawsuit in B.C. whereby three plaintiffs allege that they and other Eritreans worked against their will on the construction of Nevsun’s Bisha mine in western Eritrea. CEO Cliff Davis calls the allegations “unfounded.”