US markets up, Jan. 18-22

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to finish the week at 30,996.98 and the S&P 500 climbed 0.02% to 3,841.47. Spot gold jumped US$26.90 per oz., or 1.47%, to US$1,855.50 per ounce.

Iamgold increased by US18¢ to US$3.46 per share. The company reported total 2020 gold production of 653,000 ounces from its Essakane mine in Burkina Faso, Rosebel in Suriname, and Westwood in Canada. It said it expects operating costs to be at the bottom end of its 2020 guidance of US$980-US$1,010 per oz., with all-in sustaining costs (AISCs) at the low end of its guidance of US$1,240-US$1,270 per ounce. “Essakane had its strongest quarter at the end of the year, Rosebel production was up quarter-over-quarter and Westwood contributed by processing stockpile and Grand Duc open pit ore,” Gordon Stothart, Iamgold’s president and CEO, commented in a news release. The company has set 2021 production guidance at between 630,000-700,000 oz. of gold with total cash costs of US$930-US$980 per oz. and AISCs of US$1,230-US$1,280 per ounce. 

Shares of Fortuna Silver Mines fell US39¢ to $7.16 per share. The company reported total production in 2020 of 7.12 million oz. of silver, 55,349 oz. of gold, 29.6 million lb. of lead, and 45.6 million lb. of zinc from its three operating mines in Latin America: the San Jose mine in Mexico, Caylloma in Peru, and Lindero in Argentina. Fortuna withdrew its 2020 production and cost guidance in April 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to a government-mandated 54-day suspension of operations at San Jose in Mexico and a voluntary three-week suspension at Caylloma. The company chose not to issue revised guidance due to the pandemic. Management has set 2021 production guidance at 6.8-7.6 million oz. of silver, 178,000-202,000 oz. of gold, 29-32 million lb. of lead, and 44-49 million lb. of zinc.

Turquoise Hill Resources fell US74¢ to $11.25 per share. The company reported 2020 production of 149,631 tonnes of copper and 181,858 oz. of gold in concentrates from its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia, one of the world’s largest copper-gold mines. Gold production for the year exceeded guidance of 120,000-150,000 ounces. The company has set production guidance for 2021 at 160,000-180,000 tonnes of copper and 500,000-550,000 oz. of gold in concentrates from the processing of both open pit and underground development material. The company says that the expected increase in gold production in 2021 compared with 2020 will result from a transitioning to the higher-grade ore lower in phase 4B of the planned pit design.