Gold and silver futures remained firmly in positive territory on Monday afternoon amid a broad-based rally in commodities and weakness in the U.S. dollar.
Precious metals rebounded from last week’s sell-off, with COMEX December gold futures closing with a gain of $19.70, or 1.2%, at $1,734.40 per ounce. In doing so, the yellow metal settled at its highest level since October 18th, just over one month ago.
Silver futures fared even better than gold, as the COMEX December contract climbed as much as $0.84, or 2.6%, to $33.21 per ounce. This marked silver’s best level in just over a month as well.
Gold and silver stocks maintained the large majority of their gains as well, with the Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) higher by 2.5% at 169.82 in afternoon trading.
One of the best performing XAU components today was Randgold Resources (GOLD), which surged 4.8% to $106.61 per share. Randgold was lifted in part by an upgrade from RBC Capital Markets, which moved the stock to Outperform from Sector Perform.
(For rankings, analysis, upgrades and downgrades on over 90 gold and silver stocks, check out GoldAlert Pro at http://pro.goldalert.com)
Other notable XAU components in the black included Hecla Mining (HL) and Royal Gold (RGLD) – which rose by 4.6% to $5.75 per share and by 2.6% to $83.03 per share, respectively.
Aurizon Mines Reports Third Quarter Results
Aurizon also completed the 2012 drill program at the Heva and Hosco West Extension areas, in which 34 drill holes intersected mineralization exceeding 3.0 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold over a minimum true width of 3.0 meters, down to a maximum depth of 400 meters. The Company expects to complete an in-pit resource for the property in the first half of 2013. Full Aurizon Mines Press Release.
- Operating profit margin of $894 per ounce
- Cash balance of $199 million with no debt
- Exploration activities in the fourth quarter 2012 will concentrate on the compilation and interpretation of data at the Heva and Hosco West Extension areas
- Aurizon will also focus on resource updates on the Marban and Heva projects and regional exploration at the Company's early stage projects
