The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained for the sixth straight week, moving up 286.03 points to 15,111.13. The S&P/TSX Global Gold Index added 5.67 points to 153.41, while the S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index climbed 45.72 points to 761.03. The spot price for gold rose US$13.60 per oz. to US$1,202.10.
Struggling junior Marengo Mining rose 50% to 2¢ after announcing a financing agreement to support exploration efforts at its Yandera copper-molybdenum-gold project in Papua New Guinea. Under the agreement, Marengo would sell 9% senior unsecured convertible debentures to its major shareholder Sentient Global Resources Fund for up to US$7.5 million. The debentures will mature on June 30, 2017. Marengo intends to use the proceeds for a new drill program, working capital and general corporate purposes. The transaction should close in December.
Continental Gold advanced 34% to $2.69 on the back of a positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Buritica gold-silver project in northwestern Colombia. The study envisions Buritica as an underground mine producing 265,000 oz. gold and 394,000 oz. silver a year for 18 years. Total cost to build and sustain the mine is US$737 million, with by-product cash costs of US$431 per oz. gold.
News of a merger with Osisko Gold Royalties sent Virginia Mines up 29%, or $2.93, to $13 per share. Under the transaction terms, Osisko will offer 0.92 of its share for each Virginia share. The deal values Virginia at $461 million, or $14.19 per share. Osisko’s main asset is a 5% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on the Canadian Malartic mine owned by Agnico Eagle Mines and Yamana Gold, while Virginia has a sliding-scale 2.2–3.5% NSR royalty on Goldcorp’s Éléonore mine. Shareholders are set to vote on the deal in January 2015.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan was the biggest value gainer, jumping $3.18 to $41.17. While the major potash firm didn’t release any news, it got a boost after Uralkali, the world’s largest potash producer, temporarily halted its Solikamsk-2 mine due to rising brine inflow. Uralkali later reported a sinkhole east of the mine’s production site.
“Russian fertilizer industry sources believe that Uralkali’s Solikamsk-2 mine could already be lost with electricity and air supply turned off, and large brine inflow reportedly at 8,000 cubic metres per hour … what will happen with the Solikamsk-1 mine? There is an underground link between S-1 and S-2, but it was sealed a few decades ago with 20 metres of cement,” BMO analyst Joel Jackson said in a Nov. 19 note.
Fertilizer producer Agrium rose on the news, adding $1.72 per share to end at $114.91.
Uralkali intends to restart operations in half of the Solikamsk-2 mine, but does not intend to resume partial or full production.
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