Mining Journal > Finance > Stockpile: Central Rand Gold shines in mainly flat week

London’s first full week of trade of the New Year ended up being a relatively flat one for the basic materials stocks. Certain shares did however manage to outperform the market.

Central Rand Gold Ltd was the top performer on the main board this week with no corporate news. However, the share price of the Johannesburg-based gold miner did lose more than 80% in 2010.

Diamond producers Gem Diamonds Ltd and Namakwa Diamonds Ltd both feature in the top gainers list, up 9% and 8% respectively. A note from RBC Capital Markets this week pointed at reports from leading cutting centres that suggest rough prices “remain firm.”

UK Coal plc was the second best gainer with a 33% gain as news of the extent of flooding in the Australian state of Queensland, which has affected coal mines in the region, continued to filter through. It was also a big faller in 2010 with a 45% fall. Czech coal producer New World Resources NV gained 12% last week, though the shares retreated 1.35% this week.

Major miners affected by the flooding lost a bit more ground this week with BHP Billiton down 1%, Rio Tinto and Anglo American plc flat and Xstrata plc shedding 2.4%. Other commodity prices have also softened in recent days.

Last week's biggest fallers, the silver producers, continued to prop up the table. Hochschild Mining plc and Fresnillo plc were down by 3.3% and 3.9% respectively.

On AIM, coal miners were significant amongst the major gainers owing to rising prices. Leading the junior miners was Atlantic Coal plc, the week’s top gainer at close to 140% higher.

The UK-headquartered company operates the Stockton Colliery in the Pennsylvania coal fields of the US. Last week the Atalantic received £0.3 million of funding through a placement of 75 million shares to the Blackrock UK Smaller Companies Fund.

Strategic Natural Resources plc, which operates coal mines in southern Africa, also added 30%.

Elsewhere, explorer Beowulf Mining plc continued an impressive recent run that kicked off late last year. The company is exploring northern Sweden for deposits of iron, copper and gold amongst other minerals. Beowulf is working on an exploration target of about 600Mt of iron ore at its flagship project, the Kallak iron ore deposit.

African Eagle Resources plc advanced to its highest level in more than 18 months during the week. The gold explorer added 21% after saying MWB Ltd had increased its holding in the company to 8.2%.

Other companies to make notable gains (without releasing a statement) included Namibian Resources plc and Tertiary Minerals plc, which rose 89% and 35% respectively.

The biggest faller for the week was GMA Resources plc, dropping close to 40% following a slump in production in the December-end quarter. The company said its output from the Amesmessa mine in Algeria was down owing to lower ore grades and a delay in the delivery of supplies.

Fiji gold miner Vatukoula Gold Mines plc also shed ground on disappointing production results for the quarter. Vatukoula blamed a focus on its mine development programme and lower ore grade in the areas being mined for the lower output. The market responded by removing 16% of the company’s value.

Yet another to suffer from the release of fourth quarter results was Central Asian gold miner Anglo Asian Mining plc with a 10% downgrade. The company reported gold sales of 57,398oz at an average of US$1,241/oz.

Others to make significant losses on the AIM market included Angel Mining plc and Hambledon Mining plc, which fell 15% and 9% respectively.