TSX holds ground for Oct. 18-22 period

With the Bank of Canada holding rates at 1% the TSX Composite managed to hold on to much of its recent gains for the Oct. 18 to 22 period. The Index fell a mere 11 points for the period, finishing up at 12,641.93.

The Bank of Canada’s move marked a pause down the path of gradual increases which it had embarked on since June. The halt came due to downgrades to the economic and inflation outlook

The Global Gold Index, which had been falling while gold prices were rising over the last few periods, proved to be a leading indicator for where gold prices were going. The yellow metal finally began to fall off a bit, as it was down US$38 to US$1,322.50, and the Global Gold Index finally moved in-step with its underlying commodity as it was off 11 points to finish at 392.4 points.

The Capped Metals & Mining Index continued on its torrid pace as it rose another 16 points to finish at 1,248.97. That rise came despite the price of copper falling two pennies to US$3.76 per lb. The prices for aluminum, nickel and tin were also down, while the prices for lead and zinc were higher.

Acquiring a stake in the King-king copper and gold project in the Philippines helped to bolster Ratel Gold’s fortunes for the period. The company was up 57% to 72¢ after announcing it will acquire Russell Mining & Minerals’ interest in King-king. The acquisition will cost Ratel will issue a total of 155 million shares if it exercises all of its options on the project.

The company calls King-king one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world, with a measured and indicated equivalent copper-gold resource of 791.5 million tonnes grading 0.815 grams equivalent gold for 20.7 million equivalent gold ounces.

But Ratel wasn’t the only one feeling the market’s enthusiasm. Orezone Gold received a big lift to its share price after updating the resources estimate at its Bombore Gold Deposit in Burkina Faso. The company’s shares were up 56% to $2.41 after announcing that indicated resources now stand at 60.9 million tonnes grading 0.81 grams gold for 1.6 million oz. of gold and inferred resources now stand at 60.6 million tonnes of grading 0.96 grams gold for 1.9 million oz. gold.

The increase makes Bombore the largest undeveloped gold deposit in Burkina Faso. The company says it will embark on an aggressive infill and expansion drill program as it pushes to get a preliminary economic assessment on the project done.

Rockgate Capital managed to partake in the run up in uranium stock prices. With the price of uranium finally getting into gear – it approached the US$50 per lb mark – Rockgate’s recent drill result from its Falea project in Mali had a delayed but desirable effect. While the results came out on Oct. 14 the company’s shares only began to climb this period and were up 26% to $1.08. The drill results were highlighted by an intercept of 6 metres grading 1.24% U3O8 and 34.8 grams silver.