Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE:POT), the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, saw second quarter profits fall by 79% to $187.1 million or $0.62 per share. Stripping out a one-time gain of $115.3 million from previously impaired securities and the profit tallied $0.32 per share. The company also announced that 2009 earnings will be less than previously forecast as demand from farmers declined. This did not dismay investors as Potash ended the session up C$7.09 at C$104.59.

Brett Resources tabled an updated inferred resource of 155 million metric tons grading 1.04 gram gold per metric ton for its Hammond Reef deposit in Ontario. Brett ended the day up C$0.03 at C$0.89.

The appetite for resource related equities appears to be insatiable right now with the bigger producers receiving most of the interest. We shall see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup:Friday, July 24th, 2009

Teck Resources (NYSE:TCK) cut its 2010 copper production forecast by 13 percent because of geotechnical issues at its Highland Valley mine in British Columbia. Copper production estimates for next year now stand at 755 million pounds down from the previous 870 million pounds, while this year’s output from Highland Valley drops by 12 percent and by 2010 output hits 187 million pounds, a 38 percent drop. Teck ended the day down C$0.07 at C$18.43.

In a case of tax dollars being put to work, Adroit Resources is set to receive C$603,633 from the Provincial Government of British Columbia as compensation for the 1995 expropriation of its Amber mineral claims to make way for a Park. The Supreme Court of British Columbia also ordered the Government to pay Adroit’s legal costs and to pay interest on the monetary award from July, 1995. The total award is expected to be more than C$1.4 million. Adroit ended the day unchanged at C$0.11.

International Tower Hill (AMEX:THM) tabled an updated resource for its Livengood project in Alaska. Using a 0.3 gram gold per tonne cutoff, the indicated resource tallies nearly 235 million tonnes grading 0.69 gram gold per tonne and the inferred camp tallies north of 280 million tonnes running 0.59 gram gold per tonne. International ended the day up C$0.13 at C$3.45

Shares of Sabina Silver added C$0.06 to close at C$0.99 after the company announced a drill intercept of 26.2 percent zinc and 457 grams silver per tonne over 8.8 metres at its Hackett River silver-zinc project in Nunavut.

Starfield Resources continued to get no trading action following word that it is taking over fellow junior Nevoro. The friendly all-share transaction would see each Nevoro share exchanged for a 0.87 of a Starfield share. Starfield ended the day down C$0.015 at C$0.16, while Nevoro cloased flat at C$0.125.

Weaker job numbers out of the United States failed to damper investor appetite for equities. We will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Friday, June 26th, 2009

Nickel peaked over $6.20 during the pre-dawn hours, but it was all downhill from there, as it sank back below the $6 mark to close at its intraday low of $5.9164/lb., down 11 cents. Zinc was also up in the pre-dawn hours and cratered through the day to end at $0.647/lb., down two cents. Aluminum was very weak, giving up 2¼ cents, to $0.6199/lb., while lead bucked the trend, adding three-quarters of a cent, to $0.6505/lb.

Copper led most of the industrials lower, surrendering overnight gains and retreating from a 2½-week peak as the dollar strengthened again, leading to a general commodities selloff.

“There’s a lot more chatter about the dollar right now and it’s definitely becoming something more people are paying attention to,” said Matthew Zeman, of LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago. “It’s keeping a damper on prices.”

In addition, copper somewhat tracked equities lower after the mixed existing home sales data failed to provide any upward impetus.

“The [housing] supply number rose and I think people were hoping that number would drop by a small amount, and that’s kind of keeping copper a little heavy here,” said Sterling Smith, of FuturesOne in Chicago.

While stockpile data was supportive—copper inventories monitored by the LME were off by 7,300 metric tons yesterday, to 319,275 tons—traders responded more to a decline in canceled warrants, the metal tabbed for delivery, which have fallen to 43,375 metric tons from this year’s high of 84,000 tons on April 30.

In company news, Teck Resources (NYSE:TCK), Canada’s biggest base-metals company, is still trying to right its listing ship, now engaging in talks to sell coking-coal assets to Chinese companies.

Teck is seeking help to pay down $9.8 billion in debt incurred last year to buy Fording Canadian Coal Trust. Teck made the deal at the worst possible time, right before metals and energy prices plunged as the global recession spread.

Source: Base Metals Mostly Lower

Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) posted a first quarter profit ofC$241 million or C$0.50 per share. That is a 30 percent drop from the C$345 million or C$0.78 per share in the same period a year earlier. Much more importantly, the company entered into a commitment letter to amend its existing $4-billion senior term loan facility and $5.81-billion senior bridge loan facility. The $4.4 billion has been deferred and the $3.5 billion of the Bridge Facility due October 29, 2009 has been stretched out to October 30, 2011. Teck ended the day up C$3.25 at C$12.36.

Anfield Ventures jumped ahead of the commodity curve by purchasing all of the outstanding shares of Mayaniquel, S.A. from BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) for $2.5 million and the issuance of a 1.5% net smelter royalty. Mayaniquel holds 21 mineral exploration licenses totaling approximately 83,430 hectares in the nickel laterite belt that surrounds Lake Izabal adjacent to the HudBay Mineral’s Fenix project in Guatemala. Anfield also announced plans to sell 10.15 million shares at a price of C$0.35 per share to Lumina Capital Limited Partnership, an investment partnership held principally by Vancouver mining entrepreneur Ross Beaty. Anfield ended the day up C$0.685 at C$1.05.

Shares of Salazar Resources added C$0.13 to C$0.48 after the junior announced that it received official notice from the Minister of Mines and Petroleum of Ecuador authorizing the restart of its field operations.

Despite facing weakening economic data, the current market clearly does not want to go down. Can it continue to swim against the tide? We shall see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Nickel was also down early, but failed to rally much, closing at $5.2012/lb., down 27½ cents. Zinc’s late surge carried it almost to break-even, ending at $0.6491/lb., down less than two-tenths of a cent. Aluminum did make it back into positive territory, adding just short of a penny, to $0.6406/lb., while lead also showed some spunk, tacking on two-thirds of a cent, to $0.6654/lb.

Copper set the tone for the industrial metals, which all featured late morning rallies tied to a turnaround in equities, although it was unable to reach green numbers as gloomy earnings reports weighed on the market.

Both stocks and the base metals got a boost from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who reassured Americans yesterday that the “vast majority” of the nation’s banks have more capital than needed, easing concern about the outlook for financial companies.

However, Shanghai copper went limit down on the day, falling the maximum allowable 5%, and that could signal further weakness ahead, wrote William Adams, an analyst at Basemetals.com in London.

“We would keep a firm eye on equities to see if the slide halts and on metals charts to look for signs of consolidation, which may well initially trigger some nervous bargain-hunting,” Adams said.

The stockpile situation continues to be supportive, however. Copper inventories monitored by the LME plunged again yesterday, falling by 5,025 metric tons to 457,300 tons. And canceled warrants — stocks earmarked for delivery — rose to 72,375 tons from 68,325 tons on Monday.

In company news, beleaguered miner Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) caught a break, as its lenders have agreed to defer $4.4 billion in debt payments due in 2009, giving Teck some breathing room in its attempt to pay down debt from the purchase of Fording Canadian Coal Trust. Investors applauded, driving Teck’s shares up by 30%.

Source: Base Metals Mixed

Aurizon Mines (AMEX:AZK) inked a C$50 million bought deal financing comprising just over 9.7 million shares priced at C$5.15 each. The gold miner ended the day down C$0.51 at C$5.13.

Shares of Goldsource Mines continued to slump on the back of the last batch of drill results from the Border coal project in Saskatchewan. Goldsource fell C$0.15 to C$1.38.

Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) cashed in 5.6 million shares of Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) that it acquired in January on the sale of Teck’s sixty per cent interest in the Lobo Marte property in Chile. Teck got $18 per share for a cool $141 million. Teck ended the day up C$0.77 at C$8.74.

We may have bounced off the bottom but on a year over year comparison, the value of trades on the junior bourse is down 77.2 per cent, while the trading volumes are down 29.7 per cent. More importantly, equity financings are down 64.8 per cent over the first three months of 2009. We shall see what Thursday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Thursday, April 09th, 2009

A takeover offer in the oil patch helped move the junior oil stocks higher. Verenex Energy surged C$1.75 to C$9.55 thanks to a C$10 per share takeover offer from CNPC International.

The base metal miners had a rare good session with Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) leading the way by adding C$0.47 to close at C$4.52.

Uracan Resources tabled an inferred resource of 80.7 million tonnes grading 0.012% U308 at the TJ and Middle zones on its North Shore property in Quebec. Uracan ended the day up C$0.02 at C$0.20.

The Canadian markets jumped to life on the back of the financials but most of the pundits feel that the worst is yet to come on the economic front. We will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Friday, February 27th, 2009

Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) posted a fourth-quarter loss of $468 million, or $0.53 per share thanks to $773 million in writedowns. Stripping out the writedowns, the world’s largest gold miner earned $0.32 per share. Sales rose 10 percent to $2.11 billion. At the end of 2008, Barrick had gold reserves of 138.5 million ounces and expects 2009 gold production to come in between 7.2 million and 7.6 million ounces, slightly down from 2008 production of 7.66 million ounces. Barrick also agreed to buy  Teck Cominco’s 50 percent stake in the Hemlo gold operation in western Ontario for a cool $65 million. That gives Barrick 100 per cent of the operation. Barrick ended the session up C$0.18 at C$46.08, while Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) lost C$0.25 at C$3.80.

Shares of Silvercorp fell C$0.37 to close at C$3.13 after the base metal miner inked a deal to sell 10 million shares at C$3.10 each.

It was yet another quiet news day during Friday’s session with companies electing to keep their heads down during the selling binge. We will see what Monday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Monday, February 23rd, 2009

It was a rough day for Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) after the world’s second-largest zinc producer posted a fourth quarter loss of C$607 million or C$1.28 per share compared to a profit of C$280 million or C$0.63 per share in the same period a year earlier. The debt-heavy miner took a C$844 million writedown in the quarter. Teck ended the session down C$0.48 at C$4.44.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ), the world’s largest uranium miner posted a fourth quarter profit of C$31 million or C$0.08 per share, compared to a profit of C$61 million or C$0.17 per share in the fourth quarter of 2007. For the full year, Cameco’s profits jumped 8 per cent to C$450-million or C$1.28 a share. Shares in the company closed at C$18.17, for a C$1.03 loss.

Minera Andes solved its cash and regulatory problems with Robert McEwen electing to take down nearly 18.3 million shares at C$1 per share rather than the earlier 121 million shares at C$0.33. McEwen will also assume the Minera’s $17.5 million loan owing to Macquarie Bank. Minera ended the day up C$0.27 at C$0.75.

The only green seen these days is in the form of bullion. We will see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Zinc fell off pre-dawn then went flat, ending at $0.4894/lb., down a penny and three-quarters. Aluminum was a steady decliner to $0.5863/lb., down two cents, while lead was weak as well, shedding a penny and three-quarters, to $0.4965/lb.

Copper led the industrial metals lower, cratering the most in three months as the dismal economic numbers continue to roll in.

“Prices were softer across the metals complex as concerns over global growth prospects were exacerbated,” wrote analysts at Barclays Capital in London, climbing stockpiles are “offering little change in the market-surplus dynamic.”

Indeed, stockpile growth has barely paused for breath over recent months, and yesterday was no exception as copper inventories monitored by the LME advanced by 3,100 metric tons, to 526,425 tons, a fresh high since October of 2003. Stocks are now up 55% just so far this year.

Looking near term, Gijsbert Groenewegen, of Gold Arrow Capital Management in New York, said that, “Copper has further downside to go. All the exporting countries are being hit, and manufacturing is coming down. That’s going to bring copper down. The two main usages for copper, housing and autos, are also struggling.”

And with GM (NYSE:GM) and Chrysler (carrying hats in hand to Washington this week, “Upcoming decisions with respect to the automakers will likely be the most dominant price influence for copper over the short-term,” said (NYSE:MF) MF Global’s  Ed Meir.

In company news, Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) released Q4 numbers that were mixed. Although the diversified miner saw revenues rise by 13% year-over-year, lower prices and carrying charges dragged the net into the red to the tune of C$600 million.

And in Mongolia, bidding on the prized $2 billion Tavan Tolgoi coal mine promises to be spirited, with all the big names reportedly in on it, including Vale (NYSE:RIO), Xstrata, Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP), BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) and China’s Shenhua Energy. Tavan Tolgoi, which has a coal reserve of 6.5 billion metric tons, is also drawing bids from consortiums of Japanese, Russian and Korean firms, sources say.

Source: Base Metals See Red