MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS – U.S. MARKETS — Low copper pounds producers

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 164 points, or 1.8%, during the report period ended Feb. 16, to close at 9,297.03.

Mining issues were mixed throughout the week, though copper producers were hit by a sudden fall in the price of the red metal to US63 cents per lb. Phelps Dodge, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, dropped $2.69 to close at US$44.50, Asarco set a 12-month low, falling $1.37 to US$13.38, and Asarco’s 54%-held subsidiary, Southern Peru Copper, dipped 50 cents to US$8.69, also closing in on a new low.

Class A and B shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold slid $1.06 and 66 cents to close at US$9.56 and US$9.94, respectively. Rio Tinto lost $1.31 to finish the week at US$52.

American Stock Exchange-listed Getchell Gold climbed 94 cents to US$27.75 after reporting an improved net loss of US$1.6 million (or 5 cents per share) for the 1998 fourth quarter and a net loss of US$11.5 million (38 cents per share) for the year.

On the Nasdaq, Lihir Gold slipped down $3.50 to US$18.88, after Battle Mountain Gold announced plans to sell its 8.6% interest in the Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea. Battle Mountain finished the week unchanged at US$3.56.

South Africa’s Anglogold was down 69 cents to US$19.31, though De Beers Consolidated Mines rose $1.62 to US$16.50. Luxembourg-based Minorco gained 56 cents to US$15.94.

American-listed Apex Silver Mines advanced 50 cents to US$9.12 on continued strength in silver, while platinum producer Stillwater Mining lost 56 cents to close at US$25.94.