U.S. equities post worst week in eight

U.S. stocks posted their worst week in two months with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 2.94% or 357.52 points to 11,796.16, and the S&P 500 index down 3.8% or 48.2 points to 1,215.65. The Nasdaq Composite was down 106.25 points or 3.97% to 2,572.50 while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index lost 16.39 points or  7.72% to close the week at 196.04 . Regime changes in Greece and Italy failed to reassure the markets or bring bond yields much lower and in the U.S. a bipartisan congressional committee made up of six Republicans and six Democrats failed to reach agreement on how to find at least US$1.2 billion in budget savings over the next decade.

NovaGold topped the list of value gains with an advance of US$1.73 to US$10.95 after announcing plans to sell its 50% stake in the Galore Creek copper/gold project in northwestern British Columbia and spin off its Ambler copper project in Alaska into a new company led by NovaGold’s current president and chief executive officer Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse. Greg Lang, most recently president of Barrick Gold North America, will take over from Van Nieuwenhuyse.

A favorable decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Revett Minerals‘ Rock Creek project sent the company’s shares up 47¢ or 10.7% to US$4.86. The Court concluded that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s determination that the mine would entail “no adverse modification” to the critical habitat of bull trout and result in “no jeopardy” to grizzly bears, was correct. Revett is advancing the Rock Creek project in northwestern Montana, a development stage deposit containing an inferred resource of 229 million ounces of silver and 2 billon pounds of copper.

Cardero Resources gained 16¢ to US$1.22 per share on news that it had signed a letter of intent Cardero has entered into a letter of intent with Anglo Pacific Group to acquire 100% of Trefi Coal Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo Pacific that owns the Trefi metallurgical coal deposit in the Peace River coalfield of northeastern British Columbia. The deposit has a 43-101-compliant in-situ resource made up of 39.1 million tonnes measured and indicated and 51 million tonnes inferred resources. The deposit is within 60 km of Cardero’s flagship metallurgical coal deposit at Carbon Creek and about 65 km from its proposed rail loadout site.

On the negative side of the ledger, sliding prices for rare earths sent shares of Molycorp down US$5.09 to US$28.36 per share.