Market news

Toronto Stock Exchange

The S&P/TSX Composite Index stayed in positive territory for the Jan. 9-13 week as Standard & Poor’s cut the credit ratings of nine eurozone countries. The index gained 42.42 points to close at 12,231.06 points, while the diversified miners rose 36.32 points to end at 1,184.14 points. The S&P/TSX Global Gold Index inched up 5.01 points to 380.64 points as the price of gold gained US$23.10 to US$1,639.70 per oz. gold.

The week’s biggest percentage gainer was PC Gold, doubling to 48¢ on 7.6 million shares. On Jan. 11, the company reported that it has found a new high-grade vein in the Shaft 3 area at the Pickle Crow gold project near Thunder Bay, Ont. The company says nine of 11 holes that it drilled in the area hit the vein, and four returned visible gold. The most notable intercept was 2 metres carrying 444.38 grams gold per tonne from 23 metres. PC Gold says the shallow vein would likely enhance Pickle Crow’s resources. The project has 1.26 million oz. gold in inferred from 10.1 million tonnes averaging 3.9 grams gold per tonne.

Ivanhoe Australia

surged 38.8% to close at $1.75 after receiving a $30.1-million distribution, consisting of a capital return and special dividend following the sale of Exco Resources’ Cloncurry copper project to Xstrata Copper. Ivanhoe holds 22.6% of Exco, and owns 80% of the joint-venture tenements it has with Exco. It says the distribution increases its year-end 2011 cash balance to $166 million, putting it in a good position to start-up the Osborne copper-gold project this March.

Zincore Metals

jumped 36.8% to 26¢ after discovering high-grade copper mineralization in an undrilled area of the Dolores copper project in southern Peru. New trench results include 0.71% copper equivalent over a 29-metre trench.

Pacific North West Capital

‘s shares gained 36.3% to close at 15¢ after the company released nine assays from its River Valley platinum group metals deposit near Sudbury, Ont. One hit was 54 metres carrying 2.08 grams per tonne palladium, platinum and gold. The results are part of a $5-million exploration program that started last April.

Agrium

and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan were the week’s top value gainers, up $7.33 and $2.86 to $79.13 and $45.80, respectively. The Globe and Mail reported on Jan. 10 that BMO analyst Joel Jackson predicts potash prices in 2012 will be 5% to 10% higher compared to last year. He also upgraded his “market perform” rating on Agrium with a US$98 price target to “outperform,” and reiterated an outperform rating on PotashCorp with a US$61 price target.

The week’s most actively traded stock was Lake Shore Gold, with 20.2 million shares changing hands. The company reported pouring 26,550 oz. gold in 2011’s last quarter and 86,565 oz. for full-year 2011. Lake Shore closed down 4¢ to $1.39.

TSX most active issues

VOLUME WEEK

(000s) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE

Lake Shore Gld LSG 20212 1.64 1.39 1.39 – 0.04

Kinross Gold K 18647 13.33 12.62 12.91 + 0.24

Allana Potash AAA 17657 0.98 0.80 0.81 – 0.02

Yamana Gold YRI 17301 16.44 15.12 16.05 + 0.61

B2Gold BTO 13229 3.15 2.98 3.13 + 0.14

Eldorado Gold ELD 12889 15.10 14.10 14.31 – 0.49

Potash Cp Sask POT 12685 45.82 42.34 45.80 + 2.86

Goldcorp G 12511 47.23 45.17 46.45 + 1.25

Osisko Mng OSK 12210 12.11 10.30 11.57 + 1.11

Teck B TCKB 12032 40.09 37.44 39.35 + 1.00

TSX greatest percentage change

VOLUME WEEK

(000s) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE

PC Gold PKL 7625 0.56 0.22 0.48 + 100.0

Powertech Uran PWE 976 0.16 0.09 0.16 + 60.0

Bridgeport Vnt BPV 326 0.51 0.34 0.51 + 41.6

Ivanhoe Austrl IVA 14 1.99 1.53 1.75 + 38.8

Zincore Mtls ZNC 880 0.28 0.19 0.26 + 36.8

Pac NW Cap PFN 399 0.16 0.12 0.15 + 36.3

Golden Mnls AUM 459 8.84 6.26 8.49 + 33.9

Candente Gold CDG 210 0.34 0.22 0.30 + 30.4

Fortune Mnrls FT 985 1.09 0.75 0.99 + 30.2

US Gold Can Ac UXE 366 4.39 3.82 4.39 + 29.1

Grandview Gld GVX 26 0.04 0.03 0.03 – 25.0

Cluff Gold CFG 24 1.18 1.10 1.10 – 21.4

Hard Creek Ni HNC 192 0.20 0.17 0.17 – 19.0

Pac Rim Mining PMU 48 0.16 0.13 0.13 – 18.7

Silver Predatr SPD 36 0.37 0.31 0.31 – 18.4

Macarthur Mnl MMS 250 1.13 0.96 0.96 – 17.9

Lipari Energy LIP 948 0.73 0.61 0.62 – 16.2

MDN Inc MDN 189 0.24 0.22 0.22 – 15.3

Dynasty Met&Mn DMM 2072 2.35 1.86 1.99 – 15.3

Delrand Res DRN 1049 0.26 0.23 0.23 – 14.8

TSX greatest value change

WEEK

VOLUME CLOSE CHANGE

Agrium AGU 5242113 79.13 + 7.33

Potash Cp Sask POT 12684659 45.80 + 2.86

Golden Mnls AUM 459247 8.49 + 2.15

Pretium Res PVG 2533612 15.52 + 1.81

Pan Am Silver PAA 1474109 24.67 + 1.78

Seabridge Gold SEA 150165 19.23 + 1.74

Cameco Corp CCO 7282206 20.65 + 1.57

Ivanhoe Mines IVN 3159512 20.30 + 1.26

Goldcorp G 12511257 46.45 + 1.25

Central Gold-T GTU_U 14400 64.44 + 1.14

Royal Gold RGL 36569 69.48 – 2.02

Labdr I-Ore Ro LIF_U 498139 36.61 – 1.07

Alamos Gold AGI 2205648 17.05 – 0.95

Agnico-Eagle AEM 3367720 37.88 – 0.94

Harry Winston HW 1175666 10.80 – 0.65

Guyana Gldflds GUY 1948383 7.18 – 0.54

Centerra Gold CG 973728 18.47 – 0.52

Eldorado Gold ELD 12889397 14.31 – 0.49

Sprott Ph Silv PHSU 179944 14.30 – 0.45

Europn Goldfld EGU 3295222 12.09 – 0.44

TSX Venture Exchange

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index climbed 10.3 points to 1,536.03 after two days of losses and three days of gains. Activity in the period was back up to pre-holiday levels, averaging 99 million shares traded per day, though daily trading volumes ranged from 83 million to 130 million a day.

U3O8 was markedly up after it released initial metallurgical results from its Berlin project in Colombia showing 97% recovery for uranium and phosphate and 79% for vanadium and other metals. The company achieved the results using a ferric leach and acid wash, estimating the cost of t
he ferric leach process at between US$60 and US$95 per tonne. The company also expects a maiden resource estimate for Berlin to be out soon. U3O8’s share price climbed 20¢, or 57%, to 55¢ with 2.8 million shares traded.

Also in the uranium space, Forum Uranium was the most active stock with 30 million shares traded as the company’s stock price climbed 2.5¢ to 8.5¢. The company released no news in the period, but it announced in November it would start a 4,000-metre drill program at its Northwest Athabasca project in early January. The company is jointly earning 60% of the project with Mega Uranium from Cameco. Forum also owns 40% of the Henday project, with Hathor Exploration, now owned by Rio Tinto, holding the rest. Dundee Capital Markets analyst David Talbot cited Forum in December as a possible takeover target.

Quest Rare Minerals ended up 22¢ at $3.01 after having climbed to a high of $3.26 on positive drill results. Quest hit 144 metres grading 1.44% total rare earth oxides from 6 metres depth and 116 metres averaging 1.23% total rare earth oxides from 10 metres downhole at its B-zone prospect. The two holes had heavy rare earth content of 45.6% and 40.4% respectively, while in the overall drill program the heavy content ranged from 22.4% to 76.5%.

Shares of several penny stocks doubled in the period, generally on no news. Strata Minerals doubled to 14¢, Abbastar Resources to 18¢, Teslin River Resources to 10¢, Noble Metal Group to 2¢ and Dolly Varden Resources to 32¢. Only Teslin released news, reporting sample results of up to 0.12% copper at the Frasergold project near Williams Lake, B.C. The 2011 geochemical program at Frasergold sampled 27 line km over three zones. Teslin is earning in 51% of the project.

St. Elias Mines saw its share price plunge by more than 50% before ending down 49¢ at $1.21. The decline came after the company released 2011 drill results from its Tesoro gold project in Peru showing numerous gold hits well under a metre in width. The longest interval in the 11 holes released was in hole 6, with 1 metre grading 1.05 grams gold per tonne from 125 metres downhole, though not true width. St. Elias saw 16.6 million shares traded in the period.

TSX-V most active issues

VOLUME WEEK

(000s) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE

Forum Uranium FDC 30072 0.10 0.05 0.09 + 0.02

St Elias Mns SLI 16648 1.73 0.62 1.25 – 0.45

Sandstorm Gld SSL 10114 1.31 1.22 1.29 + 0.03

Canasia Indust CAJ 8470 0.06 0.04 0.04 – 0.01

Apogee Minls APE 8432 0.17 0.14 0.17 + 0.02

Rio Alto Mng RIO 7593 3.84 3.61 3.79 + 0.14

Luna Gold LGC 6489 0.60 0.55 0.59 + 0.03

Encore Ren Res EZ 5871 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.00

PNG Gold PGK 5771 0.48 0.39 0.44 – 0.06

Encanto Potash EPO 5134 0.28 0.26 0.27 0.00

TSX-V greatest percentage change

VOLUME WEEK

(000s) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE

Strata Mnls SMP 239 0.14 0.07 0.14 + 100.0

Abbastar Res ABA 10 0.18 0.17 0.18 + 100.0

Teslin Rvr Res TLR 405 0.10 0.05 0.10 + 100.0

Noble Metal Gr NMG 20 0.03 0.02 0.02 + 100.0

Dolly Varden R DLV 21 0.32 0.32 0.32 + 100.0

Moss Lake Gld MOK 14 0.32 0.25 0.31 + 72.2

Mazarin MAZH 530 0.07 0.04 0.05 + 66.6

White Tiger Mg WTC 160 0.19 0.12 0.19 + 58.3

U3O8 Corp UWE 2781 0.60 0.36 0.55 + 57.1

Sable Res SAE 39 0.17 0.11 0.17 + 54.5

Arco Res ARR 727 0.03 0.01 0.01 – 50.0

Firesteel Res FTR 310 0.07 0.04 0.04 – 33.3

First Star Res FS 3792 0.03 0.01 0.02 – 33.3

Valterra Res VQA 30 0.02 0.02 0.02 – 33.3

IEMR Res IRI 110 0.16 0.11 0.11 – 31.2

Intl Lithium ILC 2038 0.13 0.09 0.09 – 30.7

Cabia Goldhlls CGH 364 0.32 0.22 0.23 – 30.3

Roca Mines ROK 2664 0.08 0.05 0.05 – 28.5

Stronghold Mtl Z 617 0.23 0.19 0.19 – 26.9

Falcon Gold FG 10 0.11 0.11 0.11 – 26.6

TSX-V greatest value change

WEEK

VOLUME CLOSE CHANGE

Pac Booker Min BKM 18793 8.80 + 0.44

Loncor Res LN 80700 1.80 + 0.30

Maudore Minls MAO 40958 5.28 + 0.28

Probe Mines PRB 678712 2.48 + 0.26

Mirasol Res MRZ 168587 3.65 + 0.25

Giyani Gold WDG 688272 1.60 + 0.22

Quest Rare Mnl QRM 1523067 3.01 + 0.22

Northern Graph NGC 1139293 1.07 + 0.22

Cliffmont Res CMO 314600 0.93 + 0.21

U3O8 Corp UWE 2781321 0.55 + 0.20

St Elias Mns SLI 16647598 1.25 – 0.45

Verde Potash NPK 413415 7.12 – 0.35

Atacama Pac Gd ATM 313640 3.45 – 0.30

Anfield Nickel ANF 126280 5.10 – 0.25

D Arianne Res DAN 1283483 0.96 – 0.24

Pachamama Res PMA 1101279 0.90 – 0.16

Almonty Ind AII 18097 0.85 – 0.15

Tasman Metals TSM 969294 1.99 – 0.15

Lumina Copper LCC 203912 13.21 – 0.15

Zimtu Capital ZC 10900 0.75 – 0.15

U.S. Markets

U.S. equities posted small gains despite economic data showing retail sales at their slowest pace in seven months in December, and Standard & Poor’s downgraded credit ratings of nine eurozone countries. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 62.14 points, or 0.5%, to close at 12,422.06 points, while the S&P 500 Index edged up 11.28 points, or 0.88%, to finish at 1,289.09 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 36.45 points, or 1.36%, to 2,710.67 points. New York spot gold rose US$23.10 to close the week at US$1,639.70 per oz. gold, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index was up 5.74 points, or 3.10%, at 192.91 points.

Shares of Royal Gold took a tumble, falling US$1.65 to US$67.92. On Jan. 10 the company said it had agreed to sell 4 million shares to Goldman Sachs and would use the proceeds to acquire royalty or similar interests and repay debt, some of which was incurred while funding Thompson Creek Metals’ Mount Milligan copper-gold project.

Patriot Coal fell US$1.15 to US$7.87 per share after it announced that weakening export demand for its metallurgical coal means that it will have to temporarily shut down two production units and three contractor-operated mines in West Virginia. Arch Coal also fell US$1.23 to US$14.13 per share, on no news.

Hecla Mining share
s lost 16.4%, or US93¢, to close at US$4.72. The silver producer cut its 2012 production forecast to 7 million oz. silver from 9.5 million oz. silver. The company is closing a shaft at its Lucky Friday mine to remove build-up, and does not expect production again until early 2013.

On the positive side of the ledger, Agrium shares jumped US$7.33 to close at US$77.31 apiece. Early in the trading week BMO Nesbitt Burns analyst Joel Jackson forecast that potash prices will go up 5% to 10% year-on-year in 2012, and upgraded Agrium to “outperform” from “market perform” with a price target of US$98 per share. Jackson also confirmed his outperform rating of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan with a price target of US$61 per share. Potash gained US$2.97 during the Jan. 9-13 trading week, closing at US$44.74 per share.

U.S. most active issues

VOLUME WEEK

(000s) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE

Alcoa* AA 217630 9.97 9.22 9.80 + 0.63

Hecla Mining* HL 86700 5.99 4.25 4.72 – 0.93

Freeport McMo* FCX 72322 42.69 38.79 42.00 + 3.38

Potash C Sask* POT 48055 44.80 41.19 44.74 + 2.97

Alpha Nat Res* ANR 42979 22.80 20.00 20.19 – 1.01

Arch Coal* ACI 40755 15.99 13.91 14.13 – 1.23

Mosaic* MOS 30382 55.72 52.18 55.18 + 2.51

Peabody Enrgy* BTU 28541 37.55 35.15 35.68 – 0.31

Consol Energy* CNX 27722 39.18 33.44 34.33 – 4.24

Kinross Gold* KGC 26773 13.11 12.28 12.65 + 0.35

U.S. greatest percentage change

VOLUME WEEK

(000s) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE

Miranda Gold* MRDDF 73 0.32 0.26 0.32 + 28.0

Gold Am Mng* SILA 349 0.07 0.03 0.05 + 25.0

Brigus Gold* BRD 791 1.25 1.03 1.23 + 21.7

Kimber Res* KBX 571 1.16 0.90 1.10 + 17.0

Silver Dragon* SDRG 3156 0.08 0.06 0.07 + 16.6

Minera Andes* MNEAF 345 1.89 1.62 1.89 + 16.6

US Gold* UXG 2053 4.24 3.62 4.22 + 16.5

Denison Mines* DNN 313 1.60 1.36 1.57 + 14.6

Uranium Ener* UEC 935 3.46 3.00 3.43 + 11.3

Alumina Inc* AWC 3636 5.09 4.50 5.06 + 11.2

America West* AWSR 179 0.25 0.14 0.20 – 33.3

Hecla Mining* HL 86700 5.99 4.25 4.72 – 16.4

Timberline Rs* TLR 1523 0.62 0.45 0.50 – 15.2

Patriot Coal* PCX 6083 9.29 7.78 7.87 – 12.7

Li3 Energy* LIEG 671 0.09 0.07 0.07 – 12.5

El Capitan Pr* ECPN 1412 0.40 0.33 0.36 – 12.2

Dejour Enterp* DEJ 675 0.52 0.43 0.45 – 11.7

Consol Energy* CNX 27722 39.18 33.44 34.33 – 10.9

Claude Res* CGR 951 1.50 1.34 1.34 – 10.6

Cream Mnrls* CRMXF 89 0.24 0.21 0.21 – 8.7

U.S. greatest value change

WEEK

VOLUME CLOSE CHANGE

Agrium* AGU 2013970 77.31 + 7.33

Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF 16276632 70.25 + 3.66

Freeport McMo* FCX 72322496 42.00 + 3.38

Potash C Sask* POT 48054719 44.74 + 2.97

Compass Mnls* CMP 332995 71.11 + 2.73

Molycorp* MCP 22811750 28.69 + 2.59

Mosaic* MOS 30382151 55.18 + 2.51

BHP Billi-BHP* BHP 18013175 74.95 + 2.50

Mesabi Trust* MSB 931254 31.21 + 2.50

BHP Billi-BBL* BBL 5253262 62.53 + 2.27

Alliance Rs P* ARLP 321255 77.94 – 4.26

Consol Energy* CNX 27722234 34.33 – 4.24

Royal Gold* RGLD 5251077 67.92 – 1.65

Arch Coal* ACI 40754566 14.13 – 1.23

Natural Rs Pt* NRP 187959 27.47 – 1.20

Patriot Coal* PCX 6082540 7.87 – 1.15

Alpha Nat Res* ANR 42978549 20.19 – 1.01

Hecla Mining* HL 86700481 4.72 – 0.93

Agnico-Eagle* AEM 7573456 37.01 – 0.75

Harry Winston* HWD 319065 10.55 – 0.63

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