Canada’s benchmark stock index falls, Nov. 12-16

The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.78% to 15,155.50 during the trading week. The S&P/TSX Global Gold Index rose 2.30% to 165.66 and the S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index rose 1.97% to 108.40. Spot gold finished the week at US$1,221.10 per oz., up 0.97%.

Shares of North American Palladium jumped $1.70 to $12.55, after the company announced it had reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with the United Steelworkers Local 9422, which represents production and maintenance employees at its Lac des Îles mine. The previous three-year contract expired on May 31, 2018. North American Palladium is the only pure-play palladium producer in the world. The Lac des Îles mine, northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., employs over 600 people.

Seabridge Gold’s shares fell 57¢ to $16.01. The company reported a net loss in the third quarter of $2.8 million, or 5¢ per share, compared to a $1.5-million loss, or 3¢ per share in the same quarter last year. During the third quarter Seabridge invested $17.2 million at its KSM and Iskut projects near Stewart, British Columbia. At Sept. 30, the company had net working capital of $7.9 million, down from $19.6 million it held at the end of December 2017. In November the company raised $1 million at $14 per share in a non-brokered private placement. The $14 million in proceeds will be used to fund general working capital requirements and a 2019 drill program at its wholly owned Snowstorm project in Nevada.

Royal Nickel (RNC Minerals) was the most actively traded stock of the week and fell 18¢ to 53¢ per share. The company reported production in October from its Beta Hunt mine in Australia reached 3,497 oz. gold at an average grade of 9.06 grams gold per tonne. Production from the mine in the first 10 months of the year totalled 71,957 oz. gold — a 60% increase over the same period in 2017. Of the 71,957 oz., 25,355 oz. are from the mine’s Father’s Day Vein and 30,145 oz. are from high-grade coarse gold from all areas of the mine. The production at Beta Hunt generated enough cash to eliminate over $30 million in long-term and convertible debt in the third quarter. As of Nov. 12, Royal Nickel had $18.8 million in cash and equivalents, which the company says is enough for near-term operation and exploration initiatives. These include drilling along strike from the Father’s Day Vein discovery area in the A Zone with one rig, while a second rig takes care of resource-definition drilling and targets the sediment layer in the much larger Western Flanks structure. The company reported all-in sustaining costs in the third quarter at Beta Hunt were US$1,013 per oz. sold, down from the US$1,609 per oz. in the comparable quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization in the three months ended Sept. 30 reached $8.8 million — or 2¢ per share — in a $9.4-million increase from the comparable quarter in 2017.