Solid gains for the TSX during Oct.24-28

The TSX Composite Index surged during the Oct. 24-28 trading week, finishing up 570.02 points higher than where it began at 11,949.49.

The price of the yellow metal gained about US$80 per oz. to end at US$1,721.90. This helped bolster the Global Gold Index, which gained 37.99 points to 411.08. The Capped Metals & Mining Index followed suit, climbing 205.67 points to 1,163.40.

Inmet Mining was the week’s biggest value gainer as its shares jumped $10.52 to $61.13 apiece on 1.5 million shares traded. The copper and zinc producer announced its third-quarter financial results ending Sept. 30. It reported a profit of $101 million, up from the $68 million seen in the year ago period. This increase resulted from a foreign exchange gain of $30 million coupled with higher earnings of $116 million from it operations, and more production from its Las Cruces copper mine in Spain. Las Cruces produced 11,400 tonnes of cathode copper.

Earlier during the week, Inmet reported that its Cayeli copper mine was not affected by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkey’s eastern province of Van on Oct. 22. However, the company dispatched 10 mine rescuers to help local authorities rescue trapped civilians.

Also on higher third-quarter profits, Teck Resources moved up $6.70 to $41.50 on 20.5 million shares traded. The diversified miner reported an unaudited net income of $814 million, a 158% increase over last year’s third quarter. It also generated a record $3.4 billion in revenue, compared to the $2.4 billion in the year ago period. In a separate news release, Teck also announced it would increase its dividend by 33% to 40¢ a share on its outstanding Class A and Class B shares. The dividend would be paid on Jan. 3, 2012, to shareholders on record as of mid-December.

Lundin Mining was the week’s most actively traded stock with 41.1 million shares changing hands. The company announced its third-quarter results on Oct. 26, which pushed its shares down a penny to close the trading week at $4.09. Profits were down US$53.6 million to US$12.4 million. The base metal miner says the decrease resulted largely from operating earnings falling US$72.8 million to US$48.7 million during the period, coupled with losses on marketable securities and an unfavourable tax assessment for 2004 to 2006 in Spain.

Eastern Platinum also saw heavy trading as it announced the National Union of Mineworkers strike action as reported on Oct. 20 ended and that most of the 756 JIC Mining Services employees returned to work at the Crocodile River mine on Oct. 26. But this had little impact on Eastern Platinum’s shares, which remained flat at 70¢ on 37 million trades.

Starfield Resources was the week’s largest percentage gainer on no news. Its shares doubled to 2¢. The company is exploring for copper, nickel and platinum group elements in North America.