US markets down, June 7-11

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.80% to finish the week at 34,479.60 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.41% to 4,247.44. Spot gold fell by US$14.20 per oz., or 0.75%, to US$1,877.80 per ounce. 

Vale fell US5¢ to US$22.40 per share. A Brazilian Labour Court has ordered the company to pay individual compensation of R$1 million (US$200,000) for moral damages to families of workers killed in the Brumadinho dam collapse in 2019. The disaster killed 270 people, but the court action only benefits the families of 131 workers directly hired by Vale, which would result in a total payment to these specific families of US$26 million. Vale said in a press release that “it is sensitive to the situation of those affected by the B1 dam failure and, for this reason, it has been making agreements with the family members of the victim workers since 2019, in order to guarantee a quick and complete repair.” In February, executives from the company and the government of Minas Gerais in Brazil signed a R$37.6 billion (US$7 billion) deal for the reparation of the socio-economic and environmental damage caused by the dam’s collapse.

Shares of Gold Fields decreased by US71¢ to US$10.78. The company concluded a three-year wage agreement on June 11 with unions representing employees at its Deep South gold mine in South Africa. Gold Fields said the agreement equates to an average increase of 6.5% over three years spanning March 2021 to February 2024. The agreement includes a number of non-wage-related issues, including an alignment of leave and shift configurations. “The settlement agreement is fair and balanced, taking into account the impact that increases in cost of living are likely to have on employees over the next three years, and the future sustainability of our mine,” Gerrit Lotz, a vice president at South Deep, stated in a press release.

Rio Tinto dropped US$2.27 to US$87.48 per share. Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vucic, may seek voter approval for Rio Tinto’s Jadar lithium project near Loznica in western Serbia as community opposition grows. Speaking on Serbian television, Vucic said the government fully supports the project, which once developed could become the country’s second-largest export earner. However, he also said his administration wouldn’t let Jadar proceed if it doesn’t receive approval from the people first. The project is facing local opposition due to heritage issues. Jadar’s footprint covers the area around Paulje, a Bronze Age archaeological site, and several classified natural monuments. Discovered by Rio Tinto in 2004, Jadar is one of the largest greenfield lithium projects in development. It has the potential to produce about 55,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate per year.