Mining stocks dragged the TSX Composite Index down 2.2% or 293.34 points to 12,203.19 over the Aug. 5-11 trading period. As commodity prices continued to weaken, the losses in the resource-dominant benchmark overshadowed gains in other sectors.
The Capped Metals and Mining Index plunged 10.7%, or 80.42 points, to 669.93, while the Global Gold Index sank 14.3%, or 43.29 points, to 259.99. Spot gold fell to US$824 per oz. from a high of US$987 only a month ago, copper dropped to US$3.36 per lb. from a peak above US$4 in early July and nickel closed the period at US$8.01 per lb., up 13 from Aug. 5 but down US$9.37 per lb. from a month earlier.
Eastern Platinum shares were the most actively traded over the period with 100 million shares traded. The stock reached a new low of $1.31 per share as the weakened auto sector continues to erode the demand for platinum. The company hit a 52-week high of $4.18 in March but platinum prices have come down from US$2,252 per oz. in February to US$1,513 per oz. at presstime.
A long way off at the No. 2 position, the second most actively traded stock was HudBay Minerals with 37.3 million shares traded. HudBay was up 30 to $10.29, still feeling the effects of weak zinc prices, a poor second quarter and higher copper production costs.
Gold stocks dominated the rest of the list, with Yamana Gold, Barrick Gold, Goldcorp, Kinross Gold, Eldorado Gold and High River Gold all falling as investors rushed out of the yellow metal as the U. S. dollar strengthened.
Arehada Mining saw the biggest percentage change over the period, up 50% to 27 per share on a small volume of 10,000 shares. The company announced it was temporarily closing its zinc operations in China during the Beijing Olympic Games due to the government-imposed suspension on sales of explosives and transporting dangerous goods.
Strategic Resources Acquisition Corp. was down another 47% over the period to 40 a share. The company has been hit hard by the falling zinc prices and its slower-than-expected ramp-up at the Mid-Tennessee zinc complex, where operations started in January. In July, the company announced it had reached throughput of 3,000 tonnes per day — well short of planned production. The company had planned production at 7,500 tonnes per day by mid-2008 for 147 million lbs. of zinc in concentrate per year over the next 10 years.
A sign that times are tough, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan was the top value loser over the period, falling $35.44 to $177.55 per share. About 500 potash workers walked off the job at the Cory mine in Saskatchewan on Aug. 7 when three unions failed to reach a deal with management. The strike also affects the Patience Lake and Allan mines. All together, the mines account for 30% of the company’s production and 6% of global capacity. Wages have been the major issue in negotiations.
| TSX most active issues | ||||||
| VOLUME | WEEK | |||||
| (000s) | HIGH | LOW | CLOSE | CHANGE | ||
| Eastern Platin | ELR | 100257 | 1.79 | 1.31 | 1.42 | -0.32 |
| HudBay Minls | HBM | 37261 | 11.42 | 9.80 | 10.29 | + 0.30 |
| Yamana Gold | YRI | 33435 | 12.01 | 9.89 | 10.55 | -2.20 |
| Barrick Gold | ABX | 25252 | 40.37 | 34.46 | 35.00 | -6.57 |
| Goldcorp | G | 24502 | 36.50 | 31.11 | 31.93 | -5.50 |
| Kinross Gold | K | 24477 | 18.22 | 15.60 | 16.15 | -2.17 |
| Eldorado Gold | ELD | 16119 | 8.45 | 7.15 | 7.19 | -1.39 |
| High River Gol | HRG | 15976 | 1.40 | 1.06 | 1.08 | -0.32 |
| Orsu Metals | OSU | 14948 | 0.65 | 0.46 | 0.50 | -0.13 |
| Breakwater Res | BWR | 14772 | 0.35 | 0.28 | 0.29 | -0.07 |
| TSX greatest percentage change | ||||||
| VOLUME | WEEK | |||||
| (000s) | HIGH | LOW | CLOSE | CHANGE | ||
| Arehada Mining | AHD | 10 | 0.27 | 0.20 | 0.27 | + 50.0 |
| Goldstake Exp | GXP | 507 | 0.08 | 0.06 | 0.07 | + 40.0 |
| Cancor Mines | KCR | 173 | 0.17 | 0.11 | 0.16 | + 33.3 |
| Malaga | MLG | 775 | 0.25 | 0.20 | 0.25 | + 31.5 |
| Horizns G Bear | HGD | 3578 | 14.59 | 11.47 | 14.08 | + 30.1 |
| Adanac Moly | AUA | 2172 | 0.57 | 0.38 | 0.46 | + 17.9 |
| Pure Diam Expl | PUG | 1259 | 0.09 | 0.06 | 0.07 | + 16.6 |
| Yukon Gold | YK | 23 | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.14 | + 16.6 |
| Coalcorp wt | CCJ_T | 41 | 0.09 | 0.05 | 0.07 | + 16.6 |
| Birch Mountn | BMD | 366 | 0.31 | 0.24 | 0.30 | + 15.3 |
| Yukon-Nev Gold | YNG | 1094 | 0.95 | 0.41 | 0.41 | -56.8 |
| Strategic Res | SRZ | 608 | 0.75 | 0.40 | 0.40 | -47.3 |
| Golden Queen | GQM | 138 | 0.80 | 0.25 | 0.43 | -41.1 |
| Mediterrn Res | MNR | 743 | 0.14 | 0.09 | 0.09 | -40.0 |
| Golden Star | GSC | 6271 | 2.32 | 1.45 | 1.49 | -38.4 |
| BRC DiamondCr | BCD | 32 | 1.15 | 0.90 | 0.90 | -35.7 |
| Jinshan Gold M | JIN | 1217 | 2.25 | 1.34 | 1.44 | -34.5 |
| Mineral Depost | MDM | 25 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.50 | -33.3 |
| Nevoro | NVR | 840 | 0.34 | 0.22 | 0.22 | -33.3 |
| South Am Silvr | SAC | 633 | 0.32 | 0.22 | 0.22 | -33.3 |
| TSX greatest value change | ||||
| WEEK | ||||
| VOLUME | CLOSE | CHANGE | ||
| Horizns G Bear | HGD | 3577873 | 14.08 | + 3.26 |
| Russell Metals | RUS | 2277659 | 29.75 | + 1.25 |
| Europn Goldfld | EGU | 57483 49 |
3.46 | + 0.40 |
| HudBay Minls | HBM | 37260663 | 10.29 | + 0.30 |
| Moly Mines | MOL | 966645 | 2.14 | + 0.27 |
| Inspiration Mg | ISM | 173458 | 1.55 | + 0.11 |
| Skye Res | SKR | 1186830 | 6.21 | + 0.11 |
| Arehada Mining | AHD | 10100 | 0.27 | + 0.09 |
| Oriel Res | ORL | 75300 | 2.26 | + 0.08 |
| Adanac Moly | AUA | 2171650 | 0.46 | + 0.07 |
| Potash Cp Sask | POT | 8833555 | 171.55 | -35.44 |
| First Quantum | FM | 2085800 | 56.39 | -13.26 |
| Agrium | AGU | 7343012 | 79.94 | -9.83 |
| Inmet Mining | IMN | 1983108 | 53.93 | -8.15 |
| Barrick Gold | ABX | 25252192 | 35.00 | -6.57 |
| Teck Comin B | TCKB | 12888480 | 39.32 | -5.68 |
| Horizns G Bull | HGU | 7922979 | 15.00 | -5.61 |
| Agnico-Eagle | AEM | 5636400 | 49.00 | -5.58 |
| Goldcorp | G | 24501720 | 31.93 | -5.50 |
| IShCOMEXGTr | IGT | 26689 | 86.72 | -5.34 |
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