HudBay Minerals and Lundin Mining have agreed to join forces in an effort to fight the current downtrend. Under the proposal, Lundin shareholders will get 0.3919 of a Hudbay share for each Lundin share held. Hudbay ended the day down C$2.07 at C$3.16, while Lundin added C$0.04 to close at C$1.05.

Finally, a sign that there is equity financing out there for the right deal, Red Back Mining has entered into a bought deal comprising 17.15 million shares at C$3.50 a piece for a cool C$60.02 million. Red Back ended the day up C$0.60 at C$4.60.

Osisko Mining continues to hit the goods at the South Barnat zone near is its Canadian Malartic deposit in Quebec. The latest results included 185.2 metres grading 1.97 grams gold per tonne. Osisko ended the day up C$0.13 at C$1.70.

Shares of Katanga Mining added C$0.01 to C$0.39 after reporting that the depressed price of cobalt has resulted in the temporarily suspension of mining operations at the Tilwezembe open pit and ore processing at the Kolwezi concentrator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The trading week ended on a positive note with news of a large equity financing indicating there is money out there that will to be put to work for the right assets. We will see what Monday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Monday, November 24th, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange added 4.82%, while the TSX Gold Index rallied 12.9% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, lost 1.08% with the declining issuers outpacing the advancers by a 494 to 288 margin on volume of 152 million shares traded.

Shares of copper miner Anvil Mining got slammed after the company reported a third quarter loss of $17.3 million or $0.24 per share, compared with a profit of $39.1 million or $0.55 per share in the same period of 2007. Falling copper prices, political uncertainty and operational issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo all impacted the bottom line. The company also does not have enough funds to complete the development of the stage II solvent extraction-electrowinning plant at its Kinsevere project. Anvil ended the day down C$0.46 at C$0.62.

Sherwood Copper tagged 3.6% copper over 10.5 metres at its advanced Kutcho project in northwestern British Columbia. The miner closed out the session at C$1.49, for a C$0.01 gain.

Roxmark Mines cut 1.68% molybdenum over 0.7 metres at its vein No. 3 target on the Nortoba-Tyson property in Ontario. Roxmark ended the day up C$0.01 at C$0.06.

The intraday swings on the order of 10% make this a very nasty market to trade indeed. Longer term it looks like a firm bottom has yet to be established with the junior bourse hitting new intraday lows before recovering. We will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Friday, November 14, 2008

Silver Wheaton posted a 5% jump in third-quarter profit to $20.2 million, or $0.08 per share. Silver sales tallied 2.7 million ounces at cash costs of $3.93 per ounce, down from 3.1 million in the same period a year earlier. The company lowered its 2008 sales projections to 11.4 million ounces, from 13-15 million ounces previously envisioned. Silver Wheaton ended the day up C$0.13 at C$4.33.

Rockwell Diamonds got its wish with Pala Investments Holdings pulling its hostile takeover offer for the diamond miner. Rockwell ended the day down C$0.075 at C$0.13.

Shares of GobiMin got a pop after the company announced the sale of three nickel-copper projects in China to Xinjiang Xinxin Mining Industry for a cool $87.5 million. GobiMin ended the day up C$0.24 at C$0.68.

Shares of Hathor Exploration continued to bounce off its recent lows by adding C$0.44 to close at C$2.24. The junior is outlining the MidWest NorthEast uranium deposit in Saskatchewan.

Goldsource Mines added C$0.45 to close at C$2.14 on no new developments. The company is working the Border coal property in Saskatchewan. High River Gold Mines continued to fall into the abyss. The financially plagued miner ended the day down C$0.04 at C$0.07.

The first trading day of November brought no surprises with traders awaiting the outcome of the United States Presidential election before placing big bets. We will see what Tuesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Tuesday, November 4, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange lost 0.95%, while the TSX Gold Index fell 6.80% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 4.04% with the advancing issuers swamping the decliners by a 483 to 368 margin on volume of 161 million shares traded.

Goldcorp tabled third quarter earnings of $297 million or $0.42 per share thanks to a big foreign exchange gain and stronger gold prices. Taking out the $240 million foreign exchange gain, profit fell to $64.7 million or $0.09 a share, from $82.3 million, or $0.12 a share in the same period in 2007. Goldcorp ended the day down C$1.98 at C$22.54.

High River Gold Mines (HRG) moved a step closer to bankruptcy after announcing that delays in getting its Taparko-Bouroum mine into commercial production has put one of its subsidiaries in breach of its financial covenants. Financial problems also put plans to purchase remaining 50 per cent of Prognoz silver project in Russia off until at least the end of November. High River ended the day down C$0.03 at C$0.11.

It was a good day on no news for Midway Gold (MDW). The company is currently raising C$2.75 million priced at C$0.22 per unit, which holds one share and one C$0.28 warrant. Midway ended the day up C$0.17 at C$0.47.

Investors in the more speculative exploration stocks are breathing a sigh of relief because buyers appear to be back bottom feeding in the sector. We will see what Monday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Monday, November 3, 2008

Sherritt International posted third quarter earnings of $133.1 million, or $0.45 per share, up from the $65.4-million or $0.28 per share tallied in the same period a year earlier. Falling commodity prices have the company looking at reducing its capital spending. Sherritt ended the day up C$0.53 at C$4.60.

The fifth set of diamond results from underground bulk sampling of the Orion South kimberlite, within the Fort a La Corne joint venture in Saskatchewan resulted in the recoveries of 330.54 carats from 2,809.11 dry tonnes of kimberlite. The largest stone tallied 15.86 carats. Shore Gold, with a 60% interest in the project closed flat at C$0.57.

Trading below cash in the till, Western Uranium got a boost after announcing a 1.5 metre drill intercept running 12 grams gold per tonne at its Kings Valley uranium project in Nevada. Western ended the session at C$0.80 for a C$0.20 gain.

Stornoway Diamond came out with a positive economic study on its 50% owned Foxtrot property in north-central Quebec. The Renard pipe hosts 11.6 million indicated tonnes grading 60 carats per hundred tonnes plus another 7.2 million inferred tonnes grading 63 carats per hundred tonnes. Stornoway ended the day up C$0.04 at C$0.14.

Nevsun Resources added C$0.19 to close at C$0.65 as a falling United States dollar had investors thinking that Nevsun’s Bisha gold rich massive sulphide in Eritrea was undervalued.

The junior market may have formed a bottom at around the 800 point mark with the United States Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 0.5%, which helped boost commodity prices. We will see what Thursday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Andean Resources came out with a prefeasibility study for its Cerro Negro high-grade gold and silver project in Argentina. The study envisions production of 350,000 ounces of gold per year with cash costs ringing in at $198 per ounce generating an internal rate of return of 40%. The probable reserves stand at 7.2 million tonnes running 6.4 grams gold and 75 grams silver per tonne. Andean ended the day down C$0.02 at C$0.48.

On the merger front, Richmont Mines is offering up C$0.15 in cash and 0.055 of a Richmond share for each Patricia Mining share. The deal is valued at a modest C$17 million. Richmont ended the session down C$0.04 at C$1.81, while Patricia closed at C$0.20 for a C$0.085 gain.

Low metal prices have prompted Breakwater Resources to suspend operations at both the Langlois mine in Quebec and the Myra Falls mine in British Columbia. Breakwater ended the session unchanged at C$0.95.

Shareholders elected to take profit in Cardero Resource a day after the company inked a deal to sell its Pampa de Pongo iron property in Peru. Cardero ended the day down C$0.15 at C$1.71.

News that the CH-2 and CH-3 kimberlites on Baffin island in Nunavut contain diamonds propelled Peregrine Diamonds C$0.05 higher to close at C$0.275.

The junior market is down more than 75% from its May 2007 top and this type of loss formed the bottom for the 1987 and 1996 market meltdowns. We will see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Wednesday, October 29, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange rallied 1.2%, while the TSX Gold Index tacked on 0.8% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.2% with the advancing issuers out pacing the decliners by a 561 to 491 margin on good volume of 276 million shares traded.

Kadywood Capital and FNX Mining have inked a deal that has Kadywood buying for C$400 million 50% of the contained gold, platinum and palladium metal in ore mined and shipped from multiple FNX operations in Ontario. Kadywood intends to change its name to Gold Wheaton and is looking to raise C$200 million. The company also announced a deal to purchase 100 per cent of the life-of-mine gold production from the Tulsequah Chief mine in British Columbia from Redcorp Ventures. Kadywood ended the day up C$0.31 at C$0.90, Redcorp added C$0.025 to close at C$0.23 and FNX added C$1.66 to close at C$25.11.

Potash remained hot, as evidenced by investor reaction to Alix Resources and Geo Minerals news that the pair has acquired the exclusive potash rights to a total of 84 assorted locations of freehold minerals in Saskatchewan. Geo ended the day up C$0.225 at C$0.49, while Alix added C$0.18 at C$0.50.

The junior bourse may well be heading into its traditional summer slumber but the trading volumes suggest that we could have a rather active next few months. We will see what Monday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Saturday, June 14th, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange fell 0.69%, while the TSX Gold Index gave back 2% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, dropped 0.16% with the declining issuers out pacing the advancers by a 534 to 471 margin on more normal volume of 222 million shares traded.

Shares in Potash North Resource finally took a rest after a string of positive sessions. The company dropped C$0.86 to close at C$3.20.

Another potash player, Raytec Metals announced a C$17 million financing comprising 10 million units at C$1.20 per unit and 3,571,500 flow-through common shares at a price of C$1.40 per flow-through share. A unit holds one share and one warrant, which is exercisable at C$1.60 for a period of two years. Raytec ended the day down C$0.20 at C$1.62.

On a percentage basis, it was a good day for the beleaguered shareholders of Constellation Copper. The financially troubled company got a boost after Jaguar Financial and an unidentified partner announced that they now hold a 9.9% equity position in Constellation and that they had made a restructuring proposal. Constellation ended the day up C$0.03 at C$0.06.

Hathor Exploration closed its C$15 million bought deal financing at C$3 per share and is now cashed up to advance the roughrider uranium zone in Saskatchewan. Hathor ended the day up C$0.27 at C$2.90.

A stock to watch is Redcorp Ventures. Shares in the junior, best known for its advanced Tulsequah Chief massive sulphide project in British Columbia and its problems with getting trapped in the asset backed commercial paper market, was halted pending news at C$0.205.

The junior bourse is feeling a little overextended with good trading volumes not pushing the market higher. Is it the calm before the storm? We will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Friday, June 13, 2008 

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange fell 0.13%, while the TSX Gold Index was essentially flat and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, dropped 0.39% as the declining issuers inched past the advancers by a 517 to 496 margin on huge volume of 314 million shares traded.

Shares in Potash North Resource showed new signs of ending their upward trajectory despite announcing a C$25 million financing priced at C$2.50 per unit. The company gained another C$0.28 to close at C$4.06.

Not to be outdone, Raytec Metals added another C$0.40 to Tuesday’s C$0.62 rally to close at C$1.82. The company tabled an indicated resource of 148.02 million metric tonnes grading 23.44 per cent K2O and an additional inferred resource of 229.16 million metric tonnes grading 20.40 per cent K2O on its KP441 potash disposition application located in south-central Saskatchewan.

Shares of Western Potash added C$0.21 to close at C$1.77. The company recently signed a drill contract for its exploration program on the Russell-Miniota exploration permits in Manitoba. These permits comprise 555 square kilometers and lie some 13 kilometres from Saskatchewan Potash’s Rocanville potash mine.

It was a good day for Sprott Resources after the company got some media attention in one of Canada’s newspapers. Sprott added C$0.32 to close at C$4.35.

Canadian Zinc sparked some interest after the company reported that applications have been submitted to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board for permits for the proposed operations and production at the Prairie Creek Mine in the Northwest Territories. Canadian Zinc closed up C$0.13 at C$0.63.

Potash remained the flavour of the day for investors, while other resource stocks tended to struggle to stay in the black. We will see what Thursday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Thursday, June 12th, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange gave back a modest 0.09%, while the TSX Gold Index surged 2.6% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.93% with the advancing issuers beating the decliners by a 571 to 447 margin on good volume of nearly 248 million shares traded.

It was a good day for shareholders of Cash Minerals as the company announced a strategic review to reassess the economic potential of the Division Mountain coal property in the Yukon, which hosts a measured resource of 52.5 million tonnes of high-volatile B bituminous thermal coal. Cash ended the day up C$0.055 at C$0.27.

Shares in Potash North Resource rallied for the third straight day following news that the Saskatchewan Mines Branch has issued a potash permit covering 91,000 acres. The company added C$0.48 to close at C$2.55.

Canplats Resources moved C$0.02 higher to close at C$4.92 after investors digested the latest results from the Represa zone on the Camino Rojo project in Mexico. Highlights included 292 metres running 1.16 gram gold, 11.65 grams silver per tonne, plus 0.4% zinc.

X-Terra Resources remained halted at C$2.21 but the company did table news that Brownstone Ventures will acquire a 50 percent interest in applications for some 150,000 hectares of land in the Quebec lowlands, prospective for gas shales. Brownstone will issue two million shares and two million warrants, which are exercisable at a price of C$2 for two years. Brownstone also agreed to purchase 850,000 units in X-Terra.

It was a strong end to the trading week as investors are banking that the junior market is ready for a Summer rally. We will see what Monday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Saturday, June 7th, 2008