Union workers are becoming the star attraction for investors with Kinross Gold’s La Coipa gold mine in Chile on strike. Affected production is stated at 300 ounces of gold per day and the workers are standing by their wage demands. Kinross (NYSE:KGC) ended the session up C$0.05 at C$20.71.

Closer to home, a strike against Vale Inco in Sudbury is all but certain to begin on Monday with the contract expiring for members of United Steelworkers Local 6500. Vale is looking to trim costs from what it calls its highest cost operation and the workers are not fans of the cost cuts.

Uranium One achieved record quarterly attributable production of 833,900 pounds U308 from its Kazakhstan operations the second quarter of 2009. That’s an 18% jump over the first quarter. The company also tabled a new resource for its South Inkai mine. Total indicated resources now tally 34.1 million tonnes grading 0.053% U308 and total inferred resources came in at 42.8 million tonnes grading 0.047% U308, of which a total of 58.8 million pounds of U308 is attributable to Uranium One. The miner ended the day up C$0.18 at C$2.72.

Meanwhile shares of Ivanhoe Mines (NYSE:IVN) added C$0.38 to close at C$9.35 after the company announced that the Mongolia national parliament had voted to advanced approval discussions for the huge Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project.

Shares of  Quest Uranium continued to soar on big volumes with no reported news. Rumours are that the company is attracting big player interest thanks to their Strange Lake rare earth project in Quebec. Quest ended the day up C$0.075 at C$0.50.

The summer doldrums have clearly arrived with trading volumes on the junior bourse falling to extremely modest levels. We shall see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup:Friday, July 10, 2009

Nickel had an up and down day, with the biggest down coming in the early afternoon, driving it to a close at $4.3114/lb., down more than 6½ cents. Zinc eased, ending at $0.5381/lb., down two-thirds of a cent. Aluminum held up through the morning, then plunged to its intraday low of $0.5643/lb., down a penny, while lead bucked the trend by rising steadily to $0.5565/lb., almost a penny and a half.

Copper fell off the most in two weeks, as global economic concerns ruled the day once again.

The message over the weekend from the World Bank was particularly gloomy. The bank predicted that the global economy will shrink this year for the first time since World War II. Trade is projected to decline by the most in 80 years, and industrial production could fall off by as much as 15%.

“Copper finds itself testing the low bounds of what we estimate to be the new range this morning as renewed economic doom and gloom takes over sentiment,” said Alex Heath, of RBC Capital Markets in London.

In the meantime, though, the supply side continues to shift. Inventories monitored by the LME fell 3,325 metric tons yesterday, to 518,700 tons. That followed a 3.7% drop last week, and stocks have now declined for eight straight days, the longest slide since April 1.

“The fact that warehouse stocks keep declining is a positive for copper and gives people some hope that demand is coming back in,” said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. in New York. “It’s helping to push copper to a higher trading range.”

South Korea, Asia’s third-largest base metal buyer, isn’t waiting for lower prices any longer, and plans to boost its strategic aluminum and copper reserves by 46% and 23% respectively this year, in anticipation of higher prices when demand kicks back in.

“This year offers the best opportunity to achieve value for money in stockpiling. We plan to actively purchase in the first half as metal prices are likely to gradually recover later this year,” said Kwon Tae-kyun, of the state-run Public Procurement Service.

In company news, Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) says it’s not planning to delay construction of the Oyu Tolgoi $3 billion copper and gold mining project in Mongolia, one of the world’s biggest deposits, denying media reports it was considering such a move with joint venture partner Ivanhoe Mines (NYSE:IVN). The Mongolian government is expected to sign a long-awaited investment agreement within days.

Source: Base Metals Stagnant

A clear sign that the mineral sector is depressed was the investor reaction to a 111.2 metre drill intercept running 19.39 grams gold per tonne tabled by Fortress Minerals on its Amy prospect in Russia. Even once the interval was cut to 30 grams gold per tonne for any value over 30 grams gold, the interval still ran 3.33 grams gold per tonne. Not good enough in this environment, as Fortress ended the day up only C$0.04 at C$0.23.

It was another bad news day for investors of Buffalo Gold. The junior announced that its agreement with China Railway Group to invest in the company was terminated and the assets of Buffalo’s 90% owned Sardinia Gold Mines will be placed in liquidation. To top things off, CEO Brian McEwen will be replaced by Damien Reynolds. Buffalo ended the day down C$0.015 at C$0.015.

Ivanhoe Mines (NYSE:IVN) discovered a new high-grade gold and copper zone at its Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia. A deep drilling program cut 369.3 metres averaging 0.53% copper and 0.83 gram gold per tonne. Ivanhoe ended the day up C$0.58 at C$3 even.

Shares of Great Basin Gold (AMEX:GBN) added C$0.12 to close at C$1.09 after the company announced a deal with Metallic Ventures Gold to buy Metallic’s Esmeralda processing plant in Nevada, along with the Esmeralda mine and infrastructure for $2 million.

Despite the overall rally, the junior bourse remains stuck under the 700 point mark and in a vulnerable position given that the tax loss season is still ongoing. We will see what Tuesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Zinc had a sharp dropoff in the late pre-dawn hours, but rallied back to end at $0.7685/lb., down three-quarters of a cent. Aluminum fared worse, making up little of its pre-dawn loss and dropping nearly two cents, to $1.1545/lb., while lead also had a down day, shedding a penny and two-thirds, to $0.8019/lb.

Copper picked up some bearish momentum after hitting a technical sell point below $3.08 that drove it to a 7½-month low of $3.048, but that apparently attracted some bottom feeders who then helped it back up to near break-even.

The global slowdown was on most everyone’s minds.

The European Union will cut its economic-growth forecast this week, EU Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said yesterday, calling the outlook “unusually uncertain.”

“The U.S. slowdown now seems to be spreading around the world with alarming speed,” wrote Edward Meir, of MF Global. “We have lower to go.”

Ron Goodis, of Equidex Brokerage Group in Closter, New Jersey, was also ringing the pessimist’s bell, saying that, “There doesn’t seem to be any fundamental reason out there for copper to be supported … We could see it drop to below $3 any day now.”

In company news, Ivanhoe Mines (IVN) said it is continuing talks with the Mongolian government to develop the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine. The government, which withdrew one deal earlier this year, has indicated mining remains important to the country, Ivanhoe’s CEO said.

Source: Base metals listless again -  US slowdown seen spreading, driving down demand.