Miners left out of market bounce

During the report period ended Jan. 16, the Toronto Stock Exchange mounted a modest recovery from the previous week, adding 171.97 points to close at 8,744. But the base metals, which had largely escaped the broad market’s poor showing in the previous report period, and the golds, which had not, both declined as the heavily weighted industrial-products sub-group carried most of the gains.

The golds fell 45.98 points to finish at 4,104.51, as prices on the London bullion market slid steadily. The morning fix price from the Five was US$263.10 on Jan. 17, down US$3.60 from the previous Wednesday and its lowest fix since September 1999. There are presumably some nerves frayed over the looming Bank of England gold auction (scheduled for Jan. 23), and demand has not picked up in what is usually a strong buying season for physical metal.

Palladium took a bit of a breather, shedding US$21 for a fix of US$1,026 per oz. on Jan. 17. Platinum was off US$9 at US$628 over the same period, whereas silver picked up US14 to finish at US$4.67.

The Toronto-listed golds were almost uniformly lower. Barrick Gold led the most-active list, with 4.7 million shares moving, and fell 22 to finish at $23.30; Placer Dome was 45 lighter at $13.05 and almost as heavily traded. Franco Nevada Mining was 10 lower at $16.60 and Kinross Gold slid 7 to 76.

Among the mid-sized producers, Agnico-Eagle Mines was down 55 at $9.15, but Meridian Gold, which should be close to delivering its year-end earnings, was up 70 at $9.90.

On the diamond side of the sub-group, SouthernEra Resources announced its Angolan partners had accepted a feasibility study for the Camafuca diamond project, only to announce subsequently that it had appointed new chief executive and chief operating officers. The diamond miner jumped 22%, or 47, over the report period to $2.60. Another 5 cents had been tacked on by presstime.

Namibian Minerals weathered its recent troubles with winches that don’t know their own strength, adding 5 to close at $3.05.

On the London Metal Exchange, most of the base metals changed little over the period, except nickel, which rose US12 to US$3.25 per lb. The TSE metals and minerals sub-group was 71.63 points lower at 3,727.39, reflecting a $1.10 fall for Alcan Aluminium, to $52.90, and a $2.10 slide for Cominco, to $21.15. The nickel producers were up slightly, with Inco adding 10 to close at $22.99 and Falconbridge up 25 for a close of $16.25.

Among the Toronto juniors, United Keno Hill Mines was down 2 to close at 5 as the deadline passed for objections to its restructuring plan. Management is still arranging financing with a private company to bring United Keno back to life.

Globex Mining, which picked up diamond ground in Quebec, added 12 to close at 30.