Mining Journal > Finance > Stockpile: Miners mirrors precious metal gains

Gold and silver have steadily risen in value over the past week in a trend reflected by London-listed miners of the precious metals.

Gold, which dipped below US$1500/oz last week, has recovered during the past five sessions to be sitting comfortably above that mark on July 8. However, it remains at least 3% adrift of the record US$1577.57/oz reached on May 2.

Meanwhile, silver has also been on the rise and was approaching US$37/oz during the July 8 session.

In response, many precious-metals miners followed the lead of gold and silver to be the London main market’s top performers.

Latin American silver producer Hochschild Mining plc was the week’s standout stock with a gain of more than 8%. Fresnillo plc, the world largest silver miner, was also a top mover with a 4% advance.

Central Rand Gold Ltd was the biggest riser amongst the specialised gold miners with a 5% rise. Other gold miners included as Centamin Egypt Ltd (3%), Petropavlovsk plc (3%) and Randgold Resources Ltd (2%).

In a relatively quiet week for the major miners, Anglo American plc gained more than 3% to pace the big four.

Xstrata was 2.5% higher in a week the Swiss-based miner was told it had missed out on being part of the Tavan Tolgoi coal development in Mongolia. The country’s government has awarded the development between a group of companies from China, Russia and the US. BHP Billiton also rose by about 2.5% and Rio Tinto added just under 1.5%.

Namakwa Diamonds Ltd was the most notable faller for the week with a 4.5% drop, while New World Resources NV was about 4% lower.

On AIM, Afferro Mining Inc, which is developing the Nkout iron-ore project in Cameroon, was the top gaining stock with a 34% advance.

Last month, following extensive drilling at Nkout, Afferro raised the resource estimate for the project to 1,420Mt. The project has captured the eye of analysts from Evolution Securities, who said Nkout has the potential to outline a significant deposit.

Canadian-based Eastern Platinum Ltd, which is battling class action from a law firm in the country, moved 27% ahead. The company has responded to the action by saying it will “vigorously defend” itself against the C$66 million lawsuit.

Pan African Resources plc added 25% after releasing an update on its Phoenix platinum project in South Africa. The company said the project is progressing ahead of schedule and first production from the chrome tailings retreatment plant would take place in December.

Other companies to make significant gains included Arian Silver Corp and European Goldfields Ltd, which moved 24% and 21% higher respectively.

African Consolidated Resources plc was the week’s top faller with a loss of 15%. The company’s most recent news was the completion of a £4.7 million raising through the placement more than 78 million shares.

The only other notable fallers for the week were African Eagle Resources plc and Baobab Resources plc, which were around 10% and 9% lower respectively.