Minews. Looks like your comment last week that Inca Pacific was worth watching was bang on.
CC. Yep, shares of Inca Pacific Resources added C$.25 to close at C$.58 after the company received an unsolicited takeover offer of C$.61 per share in cash from Compania Minera Milpo. Of interest to Compania Minera Milpo is the disputed Magistral copper-moly property in Peru.
And sticking with cash bids, Columbus Silver has tentatively accepted a C$.20 per share cash offer from United States-listed Santa Fe Gold. The move gives Santa Fe more silver exposure in the United States. Columbus ended the week up C$.05 at C$.16.
Meanwhile, word has leaked that Hathor has signed several confidentiality agreements with companies interested in its Roughrider deposit in Saskatchewan. Potential white knights to the C$3.75 per share bid currently on the table from Cameco are France's Areva, Rio Tinto, Denison Mines and state-owned companies from China. Hathor ended the week up C$.01 at C$4.14, while Cameco closed down C$.97 at C$21.26.
Minews. What was the news out of Barrick?
CC. Barrick announced two gold discoveries in Nevada, just six kilometers southeast of its Cortez mine. The new Red Hill deposit hosts an inferred resource of 3.5 million ounces of gold averaging 4.2 grams gold per tonne, while the new Goldrush zone lies some two kilometers to the south. This good news was partially offset by news that the company’s 50 per cent owned Donlin gold project in Alaska now has a projected capital cost of US$6 billion, up from the earlier estimate of US$4.5 billion.
Minews. What is a few billion dollars between friends?
CC. Not much for Barrick but a fair chunk of change for equal partner NovaGold Resources. Barrick ended the week up C$2.42 at C$54.39, while NovaGold closed down C$1.62 at C$9.11.
Minews. Okay, let’s move on to the exploration drilling news.
CC. Shares of Alexco Resource added C$.93 to close at C$9.07 after the company reported a drill intercept of 2.6 meters running 2,154 grams silver per tonne adjacent to its Bellekeno mill facility in the Yukon.
And staying in the Yukon, newly minted Silver Range Resources reported a 104.7 meter drill intercept averaging 70.55 grams silver per tonne at its Keg project. Silver Range ended the week up a penny at C$1.40.
Meanwhile, over in Brazil, Colossus Minerals tagged a mind numbing 31.17 grams gold, 3.02 grams platinum and 6.78 grams palladium over 74.4 meters at its Serra Pelada project. Colossus ended the week at C$6.82 for a C$.42 gain.
Elsewhere, shares of Lumina Copper continued to move higher on the back of drill results from the Taca Taca copper property in Argentina. The latest results included 646 meters of 0.93% copper equivalent. Lumina ended the week down C$.19 at C$6.71.
Coming off a failed merger with Northgate Mining, Primero Mining reported that a month-long strike and lower than anticipated gold grades at its Mexican operation has resulted in a reduction in its forecast production for 2011. Production for 2011 should now be in the 80,000 ounce range for gold and 4.5 million ounces for silver. Primero ended the week down C$.52 at C$3.08.
Finally, in Africa, Roxgold and Riverstone Resources tagged some big numbers on the Yaramoko gold permit in Burkina Faso. Highlights included 62.74 grams gold per tonne over 16 meters. Even so, Roxgold ended the week down C$.03 at C$.88, while Riverstone fell C$.01 to close at C$.61.
The equity markets look a little shaky and the September/October period is often a rough time for those long of shares. We will see what next week has in store.