U.S. Markets May 8-14

In a trading period when U.S. equity markets moved generally sideways, the mining sectors headed both ways — the golds down, and the base metal and coal miners up. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped a little — 6.33 points, to 1,503.15 — while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained marginally between May 8 and May 14. But in the shadow of a US$14.25-per-oz. fall in the gold price, gold indexes were beaten badly; the Philadelphia Index was off 5.78 points, about 4% of value, to 137.36, while the Amex Gold Bugs Index fell 4.4%.

Great and small got smacked in the gold sector; AngloGold Ashanti led the downward trend, falling US$2.08 to US$42.87, while Newmont Mining fell US$1.47 to US$41.50 and Gold Fields US$1.19 to US$16.98. Mid-tier golds were also weaker, Randgold Resources sliding US$1.05 to US$23.79 and Minas Buenaventura US70 to US$33.27.

Silver producer Coeur d’Alene Mines was the most actively traded of the precious metal stocks, slipping US20 to US$3.63. Coeur, and takeover targets Palmarejo Silver and Gold and Bolnisi Gold formed a management committee to oversee operation of the Palmarejo silver project in Chihuahua state, Mexico.

Stillwater Mining was down US$1.94 to US$12.24, after reporting a loss of US$1.1 million on revenues of US$146.5 million in the first quarter of 2005. Stillwater, whose costs were stable, is also facing labour negotiations at its Stillwater, Mont., mining and smelting complex.

The mover among the base metal stocks was Rio Tinto, which jumped US$10.94 to US$280.05. Market speculation had BHP Billiton preparing a bid for Rio, which got a strict “no comment” from both parties. BHP was down US74 at US$51.26. The most active base metal stock was Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, which added US27 to finish at US$43.72.

The coal miners had a good five days, with Yanzhou Coal Mining leading the pack with a US$10.28 gain to close at US$63.41. Westmoreland Coal rose US$1.92 to US$26.57 and Consol Energy US$1.74 to US$45.15.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	17296	1.093	0.305	0.98	+	226.6
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	1637	0.01	0.006	0.01	+	42.8
Klondike Star*	KDSM	154	1.35	1.00	1.30	+	30.0
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	748	66.03	54.00	63.41	+	19.3
Bullion Rvr G*	BLRV	3378	0.67	0.50	0.65	+	19.2
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	761	0.61	0.50	0.59	+	18.0
Sao Luis Mng*	SAOL	655	0.81	0.68	0.804	+	17.3
Radius Gold*	RDUFF	383	0.59	0.48	0.555	+	15.6
Anooraq Res*	ANO	4713	3.08	2.53	2.93	+	14.4
Banro Res*	BAA	142	11.06	8.72	10.75	+	14.3
Vista Gold*	VGZ	1542	9.42	6.19	6.52	–	30.7
McKenzie Bay*	MKBY	308	0.10	0.074	0.08	–	18.3
Gammon Lk Res*	GRS	3982	15.81	12.96	13.33	–	16.0
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	3913	7.24	6.00	6.00	–	14.7
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	3071	7.25	6.22	6.26	–	14.2
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	49	0.15	0.10	0.12	–	14.2
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	929	1.66	1.40	1.40	–	14.1
Stillwater Mg*	SWC	5247	14.18	12.11	12.24	–	13.6
Taseko Mines*	TGB	6120	3.47	3.03	3.05	–	12.1
Konigsberg*	KGBC	38	0.19	0.15	0.15	–	11.7

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Rio Tinto*	RTP	5957200	280.05	+	10.94
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	747600	63.41	+	10.28
Potash C Sask*	POT	5721987	193.86	+	3.90
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	115100	165.71	+	3.82
Southern Copp*	PCU	9992785	86.64	+	2.65
Westmoreland*	WLB	378800	26.57	+	1.92
CONSOL Energy*	CNX	15115963	45.15	+	1.74
Arch Coal*	ACI	16476753	38.63	+	1.61
Aber Diamond*	ABER	117717	39.65	+	1.54
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	27542948	50.70	+	1.49
Vista Gold*	VGZ	1541890	6.52	–	2.90
Alcan*	AL	45148799	79.54	–	2.57
Gammon Lk Res*	GRS	3982071	13.33	–	2.54
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	266600	65.86	–	2.27
Royal Gold*	RGLD	2148757	27.26	–	2.18
Silver Std Re*	SSRI	3112173	36.21	–	2.13
AngloGold Ash*	AU	6244562	42.87	–	2.08
StreetTr Gold*	GLD	19187900	66.28	–	1.97
Stillwater Mg*	SWC	5246748	12.24	–	1.94
Gold Mnrs ETF*	GDX	3450690	39.16	–	1.82

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Alcoa*	AA	102188	39.90	37.56	38.35	–	0.28
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	61750	3.85	3.56	3.63	–	0.20
CVRD*	RIO	50414	44.90	42.29	43.72	+	0.27
Alcan*	AL	45149	82.25	77.45	79.54	–	2.57
Freeport McMo*	FCX	43619	73.60	70.00	71.67	–	0.48
Crystallex In*	KRY	42254	4.99	4.21	4.54	+	0.25
Goldcorp*	GG	35337	24.89	23.48	23.57	–	1.50
Golden Star*	GSS	27752	4.37	3.97	4.07	–	0.34
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	27543	51.68	48.01	50.70	+	1.49
Barrick Gold*	ABX	26730	31.48	29.23	29.71	–	1.36