The biggest global mining story of the report period was the complex deal involving Brazilian iron ore giant Cia Vale do Rio Doce‘s (CVRD) and Japan’s no. 2 trading house, Mitsui.
Mitsui winds up spending a net US$400 million for a 15% interest in Valepar, a holding company that controls CVRD. The largest shareholder of Valepar, Brazil’s largest pension fund, Previ, has an option to sell a 5% stake in Valepar to Mitsui within the next 120 days. CVRD was one of the few base metals miners in the black over the period, rising 4 to US$27.66.
WMC Resources dropped 48 to US$9.72 as it ruled out a major, one-time expansion of its flagship Mt. Keith nickel mine in Western Australia, and instead pushed forward a plan to carry out incremental upgrades.
The rest of the sector suffered from sagging metal prices: Anglo American slipped 43 to US$14.50; BHP Billiton retreated 17 to US$11.09; Rio Tinto slumped 1.90 to US$78; Phelps Dodge fell $1.20 to reach US$32.73 and Alcoa dropped $1.92 to US$19.41.
The U.S.-listed gold majors were uniformly up on the week: Newmont Mining jumped 88 to US$25.88; AngloGold rose 9 to US$29.49; Gold Fields added 41 to reach US$10.35; Durban Deep advanced 21 to US$2.58; Harmony Gold shot up 51 to close at US$12.01; Royal Gold tacked on 33 to hit US$13.90; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold moved ahead 23 to US$17.04 and Ashanti Goldfields was up 29 to US$5.53.
The silver miners rode gold’s coattails: Coeur d’Alene eased up 8 to US$1.37 and Hecla Mining advanced 13 to US$3.11.
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