TSX hits record high, June 16-20

Canada’s benchmark index gained for the third straight week. The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 107.36 points to finish the week at 15,108.97, before reaching an all-time closing high of 15,112.22 points a day earlier.

The S&P/TSX Global Gold Index moved up 10.28 points to 193.85, as the spot gold price gained US$38.80 per oz. to end at US$1,314.70. The S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index rose 17.04 points to 848.21.

Golden Minerals advanced 76% to 73¢ after reporting it would restart mining in July on its Velardena properties in Mexico. The company placed its Velardena silver–gold mine on care and maintenance last June due to falling precious metal prices. Golden Minerals intends to reopen the underground mine as a smaller operation that would process 285 tonnes per day by mid-2015. Once the ramp up is complete, production should total 1 million to 1.2 million equivalent oz. silver a year, at cash costs of US$12 to US$15 per silver oz., net of gold credits.

Struggling miner Besra Gold rose 60% to 4¢. It announced a US$14.3-million private placement agreement with Victory Corp. Group of Switzerland. Victory is set to buy 40% of Besra, or 250 million shares priced at US5.7¢. The miner intends to use the US$13.9 million in net proceeds to pay the outstanding interest under its convertible and gold-linked notes, as well as restore production at its Vietnamese mines Bong Mieu and Phuoc Son. The financing should close on July 10, pending board and regulatory approvals.

Under the agreement, Besra will also sell up to 50,000 oz. gold each year at spot to one of Victory’s related companies. Victory is a consortium of companies involved in oil and oil production, retailing and commodities, to name a few industry sectors.

Shares in Perseus Mining added nearly 27% after the miner reported several high-grade gold intercepts from the recent drilling on the Bokitsi South deposit at its Edikan gold mine in Ghana. Highlights include 11 metres of 7.4 grams gold per tonne, including 4 metres of 14.3 grams gold; and 13 metres of 5.7 grams gold, including 5 metres of 12.5 grams gold.

So far, the company has received results for 15 of the 37 recent holes drilled at Bokitsi South. The drilling targeted areas containing inferred resources and tested the lode’s southern extent. The company intends to include the 37 holes in an updated resource estimate for Bokitsi South due early in the third quarter. It will also publish a maiden reserve estimate for the deposit later that quarter.

B2Gold was the week’s most actively traded stock, finishing at $3.07, as 53.5 million shares changed hands on no news. The week before the miner announced that construction of the US$244-million Otjikoto gold mine in Namibia remains on budget and on track for completion by year-end.

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