Producers rise with gold price

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 3.8% to finish the March 27-April 2 report period at 10,313.71 points, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 shed 1.5% to end at 1,136.76 points.

Gold shot past US$300 per oz., taking American producers along with it: Newmont Mining sprang $2.07 to US$28.52 on a volume of 20.1 million shares; Compania de Minas Buenaventura jumped $1.20 to US$27.80 as 632,200 shares changed hands; and Gold Fields climbed 49 to US$10.47 as 11.9 million shares crossed the floor. Echoing its former woes of 1999, when a spike in bullion prices caused it to collapse, Ashanti Goldfields fell 14 to $5.

Silver producer Coeur d’Alene Mines tacked on 13 as it completed its purchase of the high-grade Martha silver mine in Peru. The operation lies 430 km southeast of the company’s Cerro Bayo gold-silver mine, where ore will be trucked for processing. Coeur d’Alene finished the period at $1.34 on a volume of 6.6 million shares.

Stillwater Mining tanked $3.64 to US$15.47 as the Securities and Exchange Commission questioned its methodology in estimating probable reserves at the namesake platinum group metals mine in Montana. The company has had two independent consultants corroborate its methods, which, it says, has not changed since it went public in 1994. Nevertheless, the outcome could affect the company’s earnings and credit agreements.

On the base metal side, Phelps Dodge added US79 to finish at US$41.73, BHP Billiton was US72 better at US$12.55, and Rio Tinto picked up US$1.65, closing at US$81.55.