Gold fell 1.3% to close at US$1,252.4, as threats of a trade war with China continue to loom over the United States. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index slipped 0.5% to 81.59 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2% to 24,271.41, while the S&P 500 Index fell 1.3% to 2,718.37.
Shares of Freeport-McMoRran rose 5% to US$17.26 after Indonesia said it was nearing a US$4-billion agreement to take a 51% stake in Freeport’s Grasberg copper-gold mine, of which Rio Tinto is also a part owner. Under the current terms, Indonesia owns 9% of the project.
Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises minister Rini Soemarno and deputy minister Fajar Harry Sampurno said the parties had reached an agreement for Rio Tinto’s stake. Rio Tinto has a joint venture with Freeport for 40% of production above specific levels until 2021, and 40% of all production beyond 2021.
Freeport shares dropped from US$18.20 in June to under US$16 by the end of the month.
Shares of Agnico Eagle rose 2.2% to US$45.83. The Canadian government recently granted environmental approval for Agnico’s Akasaba West gold-copper project, 15 km east of Val-d’Or and less than 30 km from the company’s Goldex underground gold mine.
The approval came with more than 100 conditions to protect the environment, in particular the local caribou herd. Agnico expects to start up the mine by 2020, taking advantage of extra milling capacity at its Goldex and LaRonde mines.
The company acquired the project in 2014. It has 5.2 million probable tonnes grading 0.87 gram per tonne gold and 0.49% copper for 145,000 oz. gold, as well as 2.2 million indicated tonnes at 0.7 gram gold and 0.41% copper for 49,000 oz. gold.
Shares of Agnico have trended up since February.
Shares of Sibanye-Stillwater fell another 16.3% to US$2.42. The company is the target of U.S. law firm Bernstein Liebhard’s class-action lawsuit, which it filed on behalf of shareholders after 21 deaths at the company’s South African mines caused its stock to fall in the first half.
In late June, the twenty-first death was reported at Sibanye’s Driefontein gold mine after a miner was hit by a scraper.
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