TSX slips again, June 15-19

Canada’s benchmark index dropped 0.6% to finish at 14,653.12, amidst fears that Greece could default on its debt, and lower-than-expected Canadian retail sales in April. The S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index fell 4% to 701.04, the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index lost 0.4% to finish at 154.84 and the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index slid 0.8% to 62.50. Signs that the U.S. Federal Reserve would wait until year-end before raising interest rates drove gold prices higher, with the spot price climbing 1.6% to US$1,200.30 per oz.

Shares of Imperial Metals rose 49¢ to $9.74 on news of an amended permit for its Red Chris mine in B.C. The Ministry of the Environment granted an amended permit on June 12, which replaces the previously issued short-term authorization, and allows the mine to discharge tailings into the tailings storage facility (TSF), and discharge water from the TSF, subject to water-quality guidelines.

Drill results from Continental Gold’s Buritica project in Antioquia, Colombia, drove the company’s shares 30¢ higher to $2.64. The junior drilled 20 diamond drill-holes through the Veta Sur and Yaragua vein systems at the project, and is updating its mineral resource estimate. Highlights included 5.6 metres grading 16.9 grams gold per tonne and 56 grams silver per tonne, including 1.2 metres averaging 45.3 grams gold and 96 grams silver; and 1.3 metres returning 178 grams gold and 109 grams silver.

Shares of Prophecy Coal jumped 25% to 5¢ after the company reported a resource estimate for its Pulacayo project in Bolivia. The project has a 1.3-million-tonne indicated resource grading 530 grams silver per tonne, 3.6% zinc and 2.5% lead, and an inferred resource of 350,000 tonnes averaging 419 grams silver, 4.6% zinc and 2.5% lead. The resource was based on a silver-equivalent cut-off grade of 500 grams per tonne. Pulacayo is 107 km northeast of Sumitomo Corp.’s San Cristobal silver mine, 185 km southwest of Coeur Mining’s San Bartolome silver mine and 139 km north of Pan American Silver’s San Vicente mine.

Polymet Mining climbed 22.9% to $1.61. The company is almost done a decade-long environmental review led by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) of its NorthMet copper-nickel-precious metals deposit in northeastern Minnesota. The department’s commissioner says the deposit’s preliminary environmental impact statement will be circulated “very soon.”

Tahoe Resources dropped $1.26 to $16.67, after Goldcorp announced it was selling its 25.6% stake in the company in a secondary offering. The sale of Goldcorp’s 58.1 million shares in Tahoe at a price of $17.20 per common share is part of Goldcorp’s strategy of divesting non-core assets. Shares of Goldcorp fell 54¢ to $20.12.