US markets pick up steam, Oct. 11-15

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 548.51 points or 1.58% to 35,294.76 and the S&P 500 climbed 80.03 points or 1.82% to 4,471.37 in the Oct. 11-15 trading week. Spot gold increased US$10.30 per oz. or 0.59% to US$1,767.40 per ounce.

Aluminum giant Alcoa posted the largest gain, rising US$9.97 per share to US$56 per share. High prices for aluminum and alumina drove record results for the third quarter. The company set a record for quarterly net income of US$337 million and earnings per share of US$1.76, with revenues of US$3.1 billion, up 10% from the second quarter. The company generated US$435 million in cash from operations and ended the quarter with US$1.45 billion in cash. It also announced plans to restart 268,000 tonnes of curtailed aluminium capacity at the Alumar smelter in Sao Luis, Brazil, to be fully operational in the fourth quarter of 2022. Alcoa said it has redeemed US$500 million in higher interest rate notes and has no debt maturities until 2027. As of September 30, it has total debt of US$1.8 billion, down from US$2.3 billion in the second quarter.

Lithium Americas advanced US$4.83 to US$25.43. On October 7 the company reported an updated resource estimate for its Thacker Pass project in Nevada, 100 km northwest of Winnemucca. Thacker Pass now has measured and indicated resources of 1.15 million tonnes grading 2,231 parts per million lithium for 13.7 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and 391.6 million tonnes grading 2,112 parts per million lithium for 4.4 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent. The company is working on a feasibility study to incorporate a potential phase 2 expansion scenario. A 2018 prefeasibility study outlined an open pit mine with production capacity of 60,000 tonnes of LCE a year over a 46-year mine life.  The company says all key state permits are expected to be released for public comment in the fourth quarter of this year, and at the federal level, a court hearing on the appeal of the Record of Decision is expected to take place in February 2022, with a ruling to follow.

Shares of Cameco gained US$3.68 to finish the trading week at US$24.99. The uranium miner has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Terrestrial Energy, to examine potential partnership opportunities to use Terrestrial’s integrated molten salt reactor (IMSR) generation IV nuclear power plants. The two Canadian companies investigating the potential of Cameco’s Port Hope uranium conversion facility for IMSR fuel salt supply. The MOU follows Terrestrial Energy’s prior agreements with Cameco to supply uranium products for its ongoing fuel testing programs. The Terrestrial Energy IMSR power plant is one of three small modular reactors (SMR) power plant designs under consideration for deployment at Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) Darlington nuclear generating station. It is also one of two Generation IV technology candidates under consideration by OPG.