Cambior, Ariane kindle merger mania

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s gold index gave back its recent gains, and then some, during the report period ended Sept. 30, as the yellow metal yo-yoed its way US$3 per oz. higher to an afternoon fix of US$388.00 per oz. at the period’s end. The gold index plummeted 11.79 points, or 5.7%, to end at 193.53.

The biggest newsmaker during the period was Cambior, which tabled plans to snap up recently minted junior Ariane Gold. Cambior has its sights set on Ariane’s Camp Caiman gold project in French Guiana. Cambior’s issue ended 31 lower at $3.71 on heavy trading. For their part, Ariane shares rocketed a quarter, or 25.3% of value, to finish at a new 52-week high of $1.24.

Placer Dome shares retreated $1.04 from their recent highs to end the week at $18.56. The company recently inked a deal allowing Newmont Mining to take a 25% interest in its Turquoise Ridge and Getchell gold mines in Nevada.

Fellow gold major Kinross Gold slipped 72 to $10.21 after redeeming $195.6 million worth of unsecured 5.5% debentures and accrued debt from Computershare Trust Co. of Canada. The move leaves Kinross with a net cash position for the first time since the Amax Gold merger in mid-1998. Kinross funded the redemption by selling 20 million shares at $9.26 apiece. Kinross now has more than 338 million shares outstanding.

Barrick Gold rounded out the trio of gold majors with a $1.38 drop to $25.43 after a recent shuffling of its upper management.

Making news among the base metal miners was Alcan, which saw its shares end the week a nickel higher at $52.40. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic recently gave the go-ahead for the Montreal-based aluminum giant to proceed with its bid for French rival Pechiney.

On the financing front, Inco completed an underwritten public offering of US$300 million worth of its 5.7% debentures due in 2015. Proceeds will go toward redeeming existing 9.6% debentures due in 2022 and 7.75% convertible debentures maturing in 2016. The nickel giant’s shares dropped 37 to $37.48.

Similarly, Noranda shares fell 15 to $13.90 after it tabled plans to sell US$350 million worth of unsecured 6% debentures in order to repay existing notes, particularly US$300 million maturing in June. The new notes mature in 2015.

In the end, the TSX’s Diversified Metals & Mining index fell 1.6% to end the 5-day stretch at 163.32 points.

Off-index junior Canico Resource backpeddled 70, or 5.4%, to settle at $12.32. Most of the loss came late in the period after a Reuters report indicated the cost of building a mine at the company’s Onca-Puma nickel laterite deposits in Brazil’s Para state would be between US$500 million and $600 million. An independent scoping study due out next month should narrow down the capital cost.