US markets mixed, Aug. 30-Sept. 3

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 86.71 points or 0.25% to finish the August 30 to September 3 trading week at 35,369.09 and the S&P 500 climbed 26.06 points or 0.58% to 4,535.43. Spot gold rose US$10.80 per oz. or 0.60% to US$1,827.60 per ounce.

Shares of Alcoa jumped US$3.08 to US$47.21. The company announced on August 31 that its wholly owned subsidiary, Alcoa Nederland Holding B.V, will redeem the aggregate principal amount of US$500 million of its outstanding 7% notes due in 2026. The notes will be redeemed on September 30 and the redemption price of the notes will be equal to 103.500% of the principal amount of the notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest. The redemption will be funded with cash on hand. At the end of June, Alcoa had a cash balance of US$1.65 billion. The company produces bauxite, alumina and aluminum products.

Barrick Gold rose US6¢ to US$20.30 per share. The gold major confirmed on September 2 that the per share amount of the second US$250 million tranche of a return of capital distribution totaling US$750 million to be paid on September 15, will be US$0.1405092, based on the number of issued and outstanding shares as of the August 31 record date. The first distribution of US$250 million was made in June and the date of the third distribution of US$250 million is expected to be determined in November. In other news, Barrick reported initial assays from 18 drill holes and partial results for 11 holes at its Donlin gold project in Alaska. The 2021 drill program at the project, in which Barrick owns a 50% stake and NovaGold Resources the other 50%, will encompass about 80 holes for a total of 24,000 metres. Highlights from the latest batch of results included DC21-1970, which intersected 92.02 metres grading 7.8 grams gold per tonne starting at 69.70 metres;  DC21-1963A, which returned 40.97 metres grading 10.5 grams gold per tonne starting at 114.30 metres; and DC-1969, which cut 47.78 metres of 9 grams gold per tonne starting from 400.51 metres.

Endeavour Silver’s shares increased 8.7% to US$5. The company announced it had completed its acquisition of the Bruner gold project in Nevada. Endeavour purchased the project from Canamex Gold for US$10 million in cash. The project in Nye Country, about 180 km southeast of Reno, was discovered in 1906 and saw intermittent historic mining between 1906 and 1998. The project has a historic resource from 2015 of 17.5 million tonnes grading 0.61 gram gold per tonne for 342,000 oz. contained gold. A preliminary economic assessment completed in 2017 outlined an open pit, heap leach project. Currently Endeavour is focused on completing a feasibility study on its Terronera project in Mexico’s Jalisco state.