Editor’s picks: top stories of week 9

There was no difficulty coming up with the most impactful story for the week ended March 2, the ninth trading week of 2007: it was the global stock market meltdown that started with an unexpectedly surging yen and a 8.8% drop on the red-hot Shanghai Exchange, which quickly translated by Tuesday into the worst decline in North American stock markets since the days after 9-11.

You’ve likely already read about the details in the mainstream business media, but we do note that gold failed spectacularly as a safe haven during the market turmoil, ending the week down US$31.10 to fix in London at US$651.70 per oz. on Friday afternoon.

  • Love him or hate him, you just can’t ignore Rob McEwen, founder and former CEO of Goldcorp. This week he announced his intention to return to the place that made him a multimillionaire, northwestern Ontario’s Red Lake gold camp, via a minimum $10-million investment in Rubicon Minerals. McEwen-related gold properties in Alaska and Nevada will also be thrown into the mix to create the “new” Rubicon.

    McEwen’s move worked its usual magic: Rubicon’s stock soared about 55 to a new 52-week high of $1.85 midweek on the news, before settling down to close on Friday at $1.50.

  • The biggest M&A activity of the week was propelled by up-and-coming junior uranium producer Paladin Resources, which tabled a A$1-billion, all-scrip offer for Aussie uranium explorer Summit Resources.

    The testosterone must really be flowing at Paladin’s offices these days: The takeover offer comes on the heels of last week’s board approval for construction of the Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi, targeting an annual production profile for Paladin of 7 million lbs. U3O8 per year by 2009, including the Langer Heinrich post Stage II expansion in Namibia.

    If you want to brush up on your Paladin, have a look at their presentation at the BMO Conference in Tampa earlier in the week.

  • It’s been a long wait, but well worth it: on Monday a positive feasibility study of the Tenke Fungurume concessions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was released, revealing — not surprisingly — a robust, long-life mining scenario.

    Tenke Fungurume’s measured and indicated resources were last tallied at 235 million tonnes of 3.01% copper and 0.31% cobalt, plus another 265 million inferred tonnes at 2.6% copper and 0.19% cobalt.

    The project is owned 24.75% by Tenke Mining, 57.75% by Phelps Dodge and 17.5% by state-owned Gecamines.

    New mineral exploration press releases were coming out at a torrid pace this past week in the run-up to the 4-day Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto, which starts Sunday, but a few stood out:

  • British Columbia’s molybdenum prospects enjoyed significant market attention over the week with a pair of junior explorers bucking the market correction and drawing investor interest.

    Bard Ventures proved it was not just a one-hole wonder by delivering results from a second hole from its Lone Pine project just outside Houston, B.C. Almost 500 metres of core averaged 0.07% MoS2 and ended in mineralization.

    Shares of TTM Resources also lit up the boards, posting major gains on strong volume after it tabled initial drill results from its Chu moly project near Vanderhoof in northern B.C. A 198-metre intercept of 0.132% molybdenum had the junior already contemplating laying out agreements with a moly developer in the region.

  • In the ever-hot uranium sector, another duo posted major gains despite the down week on the markets. JV partners Silver Spruce Resources and Universal Uranium drilled a 30-metre interval grading 0.11% U3O8 on its Northwest claim package in Labrador’s Central Mineral Belt. With mineralization hosted in a similar environment to Aurora Energy Resources’ Michelin deposit to the east, investors speculated the camp holds strong potential.
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