Canada’s benchmark index slips, March 21-24

A terrorist attack at the airport and a subway station in Brussels that left 35 people dead just before the Easter holiday chilled global markets. The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed the abbreviated trading week at 13,358.11, down 1%, while the S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index plunged 11.1% to 438.23 and the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index lost 4.1% to close at 50.28. Spot gold declined US$38.80 per oz., or 3.1%, to finish at US$1,216.20 per oz., and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index dropped 4.3% to 180.67. West Texas Intermediate crude ended the week at US$39.53 per barrel.

Shares of Richmont Mines rose 46¢ to $6.87. After markets closed for the long weekend on March 24, the company reported results from exploration drilling at its cornerstone Island Gold mine. (The company is producing gold from the mine and developing an estimated 1 million oz. high-grade global resource at depth.) Deep drilling intersected 20.38 grams gold per tonne over 2.3 metres while lateral drilling cut 31.19 grams gold over 3.4 metres and 23.11 grams gold over 3.5 metres. The company believes the results could extend the mine life outlined in a recent preliminary economic assessment beyond the current seven years, and expand the operation from 800 tonnes per day to 1,150 tonnes per day.

TMAC Resources advanced 20¢ to $9 per share. The company completed a private placement of 827,000 flow-through shares at $10.88 per share for $9 million. The proceeds will be used for expenses for diamond drilling at its Naartok/Madrid North deposit, 8 km south of the Doris mine at its Hope Bay project in Nunavut, as well as for completing airborne geophysical surveys that started in 2015. Last year, when it had its initial public offering, TMAC secured equity and debt financing for gross proceeds of more than $365 million.

Shares of Potash Ridge soared 92% to finish at 12¢ on no news. The company’s Blawn Mountain project in Utah is made up of four areas of surface mineable alunite mineralization. Alunite is a sulphate mineral rich in sulphate of potash (SOP) and alumina. Alunite can be processed to produce three marketable substances — SOP, sulphuric acid and alumina — but SOP is the goal.

Barrick Gold announced that its executive chairman John Thornton is forfeiting all of the incentive compensation he earned for 2015, and will receive $3.1 million in total compensation for the year, comprised of his base salary, plus pension and other benefits. The compensation represents a 76% decrease in his total compensation compared to 2014. (The company’s compensation committee had awarded him incentive compensation of $3.4 million in 2015 — a reduction of 64% from 2014 — making his total compensation for the year $6.5 million, down 50% from the previous year.) Barrick’s shares fell $1.16 to $17.96.