US markets mixed, April 26-30

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.50% to finish the week at 33,874.85 and the S&P 500 rose 0.02% to 4,181.17. Spot gold declined by US$7.80 per oz., or 0.44%, to US$1,769.10 per ounce. 

Vale rose US$46¢ to US$20.12 per share. The company is evaluating a potential spinoff of its base metal division as part of its growing interest in the electric vehicle (EV) sector. The world’s top nickel producer, which is said to be in talks with Tesla and others in the EV supply chain about securing nickel from its Canadian operations, is in the process of expanding its Voisey’s Bay site in Newfoundland and Labrador. Vale’s plans include adding an underground mine to the Voisey’s Bay complex, which would produce about 40,000 tonnes of nickel-in-concentrate per year. On April 27, the company’s CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo told Reuters that Vale was in a position to be a significant supplier of premium metals to EV makers. The mining giant’s base metals business includes its operations in Canada, Brazil, U.K., South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Zambia.

Shares of Eldorado Gold dropped by US$1.17 to US$9.87. The company announced that Greece has approved a modification to its Kassandra Mines Environmental Impact Assessment to allow for the use of dry stack tailings disposal at its Skouries gold-copper project on the country’s Halkidiki peninsula. Using dry stack tailings, Eldorado says, will reduce the environmental footprint of the mine by 50%. Skouries is a high-grade gold-copper porphyry project that is partially constructed and currently on care and maintenance. When completed, the mine is expected to operate for about 23 years based on current reserves, initially as an open pit and underground mine, followed by underground mining only. 

Newmont fell US$3.31 to US$62.41 per share. The company released first quarter results, reporting production of 1.5 million attributable ounces of gold and 317,000 attributable gold-equivalent ounces. Gold all-in sustaining costs remained flat from the first quarter of 2020 at US$1,039 per ounce. Revenue increased 11% year-on-year to US$2.9 billion, and net income from continuing operations attributable to Newmont shareholders came in at US$538 million or US67¢ per diluted share, a year-on-year drop of US$299 million. Newmont said it is on track to achieve full-year guidance of 6.5 million oz. of gold and 1.3 million gold-equivalent oz. in 2021.