GOLD STOCKS NEWS - Gold stocks opened higher but quickly reversed lower Friday morning, with the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) falling $0.51, or 1.0%, to $52.15 per share. However, in spite of today’s sell-off in gold stocks, the sector remains the top performing group in the equity markets year-to-date - as the GDX has posted a 12.9% return in 2010. For the week the gold stocks ETF remains higher by 6.9%, and by 4.0% for the month of May.
Notable movers Friday in the gold stocks sector included:
Claude Resources (CGR) announced its first quarter 2010 financial and operating results, highlighted by production of 9,221 ounces of gold at cash costs of $818 per ounce. The Canadian-based gold producer’s average realized gold price was $1,103 per ounce, and gold revenue came in at $10.2 million.
Moving forward, Claude reaffirmed its 2010 gold production forecast of 46,000 to 50,000 ounces. The company went on to note that it will continue to concentrate on exploration activities at its Madsen Exploration Project and Amisk-Laurel Gold Deposit, and will focus on raising operating margins at its Seabee Operation by moving its Santoy 8 project toward commercial production. Shares of CGR were unchanged at $1.21 in morning trading.
San Gold (SGR.TSXV) reported first quarter 2010 gold sales of 11,984 ounces, a 19.9% rise over the fourth quarter of 2009. The company was able to achieve break-even earnings per share in the quarter due to continued operational improvements, notwithstanding a two-week interruption of operations at the lower section of its Rice Lake mine due to mechanical repairs.
San Gold made considerable progress on its exploration program during the quarter, as it announced the discovery of high-grade veins above the eastern extremity of Rice Lake. The Canadian-based gold miner went on to say that its geologists now view the mine as a “larger single mineralized system rather than a collection of discrete deposits.” In morning trading shares of SGR.TSXV fell 1.1% to C$4.51, but remained higher by 1.3% on the week and 3.7% month-to-date.
Allied Nevada (ANV) released preliminary assay results from the initial core hole of a three core hole exploration program at its advanced-stage Hasbrouck Mountain project in Nevada. Highlights from the results included the intersection of 1.45 grams per ton of gold across 110 meters. Shares of ANV retreated by 1.5% to $19.94 in morning trading.
While the large majority of the gold stocks sector traded lower, two notable advancers were Sunridge Gold (SGC.TSXV) and Lake Shore Gold (LSG.TSX) - which gained 7.3% and 0.6%, respectively, despite no company-specific news from either.
Notable decliners included Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), Yamana Gold (AUY), and Kinross Gold (KGC) - which posted losses of 1.4%, 1.2%, and 1.9%, respectively.
