It was a rough day for Sherritt International after the company tabled a $592.1 million or $2.03 per share loss in the fourth quarter thanks in large part to a $463.3 million impairment of goodwill on its Ambatovy Project in Madagascar. In 2008, Sherritt recorded a net loss of $289.7 million or $1.05 per share compared to 2007 net earnings of $370.4 million, or $1.79 per share. More importantly, Sherritt came out and stated that it may not be in compliance with one of its financial covenants in the second quarter of 2009 applicable to certain short-term credit facilities that provide up to $200 million of total liquidity. Sherritt ended the session down C$0.52 at C$2.07.

Iamgold (NYSE:IAG) posted record production of 997,000 ounces of gold in 2008 with adjusted fourth quarter earnings coming in at $16.4 million or $0.03 per share. Including impairment charges the company posted a loss of $96.4 million or $0.33 per share in the last quarter. For the year, Iamgold lost $9.9 million or $0.03 per share but stripping out the one-time items the company earned $107.5 million or $0.36 per share. Shares in the miner closed down C$0.14 at C$9.51.

Serengeti Resources managed to add C$0.015 to close at C$0.245 after tabling an indicated resource of 182.6 million tonnes grading 0.28 gram gold per tonne and 0.29% copper all at a 0.25% copper equivalent cut off at its Kwanika property in British Columbia.

Junior exploration stocks usually go into hibernation around this time of year and don’t wake up until mid-to-late summer. Merger mania may make the trend different this time. We will see what Thursday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Thursday, February 26th, 2009