The major bourses south of the border picked up where they left off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the Nov. 12-18 period off 224.67 points at 9624.16, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 24.41 points to 1,034.15.
Harmony Gold retained the newsmaker title among the U.S.-listed gold majors. The South African inked a 3-way deal involving Anglovaal Mining (Avmin) and its current partner, African Rainbow Minerals & Exploration. When the dust settles on the R11-billion agreement, Avmin will be renamed African Rainbow Minerals and have control of the trio’s base metal and platinum assets. Harmony will get Avmin’s Avgold gold operations, and sell its Kalplats platinum project for Avmin shares. ARM will assume control of Harmony’s Avmin shares to take a 42.2% stake in the company. Harmony shares edged US63 higher to US$15.63.
Most of the other gold miners enjoyed gold’s rise: world-beater Newmont Mining added US$1.34 to set a new 52-week high of US$45.30, AngloGold did the same, gaining US$2.57 to US$46, and Ashanti Goldfields edged US60 higher to US$13.
AngloGold and Ashanti recently agreed to extend the closing date of their merger until Dec. 12, 2003 to allow time to complete the deal. The original deadline was Nov. 14. The two also agreed to push the date back even further if needed.
The major silver producers had a good week, as the metal gained US14.5 per oz. to US$5.205 per oz. in New York. Coeur d’Alene Mines rose US57 to US$4.49, while Hecla Mining regained last week’s lost quarter plus US35 to end at US$7.36.
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