interesting to read cheers w

Sea of red Ben Sharples
Friday, July 14, 2006

RESOURCE stocks continued their downward trend for the second day, dragged down by heavy losses on Wall Street amid heightened tensions in the Middle East.
Stock ASX
Code Close
($) Change
(cents) Change
(%) Vol
(M) VWAP
($)
New Hope Corporation NHC 1.26 0.50 0.40 0.03 1.24
Jubilee Mines NL JBM 9.02 1.00 0.11 1.20 9.03
Straits Resources SRL 4.23 0.00 0.00 0.16 4.21
Aquarius Platinum. AQP 19.91 -6.00 -0.30 0.10 20.02
Excel Coal Limited EXL 8.74 -3.00 -0.34 0.97 8.74
LionOre Mining Intl. LIM 7.60 -6.00 -0.78 0.00 7.60
Sino Gold Limited SGX 5.50 -9.00 -1.61 0.32 5.54
Lihir Gold Limited LHG 3.03 -5.00 -1.62 8.18 3.05
Newcrest Mining NCM 19.52 -36.00 -1.81 2.10 19.52
Bendigo Mining Ltd BDG 1.56 -3.00 -1.89 3.09 1.58
Centennial Coal CEY 3.40 -7.00 -2.02 0.69 3.41
Energy Resources ERA 13.50 -30.00 -2.17 0.94 13.48
Iluka Resources ILU 6.64 -16.00 -2.35 1.01 6.68
Alumina Limited AWC 6.62 -23.00 -3.36 4.34 6.68
Bolnisi Gold NL BSG 2.54 -9.00 -3.42 0.91 2.51
RIO Tinto Limited RIO 74.05 -282.00 -3.67 2.28 74.75
BHP Billiton Limited BHP 28.07 -108.00 -3.71 17.19 28.24
Oxiana Limited OXR 3.29 -16.00 -4.64 10.55 3.34
Kagara Zinc Limited KZL 4.22 -21.00 -4.74 0.99 4.22
Zinifex Limited ZFX 10.24 -63.00 -5.80 5.91 10.41
Equinox Minerals Ltd EQN 1.44 -9.00 -5.88 1.00 1.45
Fortescue Metals Grp FMG 9.41 -69.00 -6.83 0.15 9.58
Paladin Resources PDN 4.30 -34.00 -7.33 1.50 4.37
Minara Resources MRE 2.36 -22.00 -8.53 4.72 2.32
Aditya Birla ABY 2.34 -35.00 -13.01 9.94 2.38
On the commodity front, sharp losses were felt across the board with copper, lead, zinc, aluminium and tin all posting significant losses. However, nickel managed to buck the trend, gaining just over 2% overnight to $US25,250 per tonne.

At the big end of town, Hindalco subsidiary Aditya Birla Minerals lost 13% or 35c to $2.34 on the back of news that staff turnover and skills shortages, as well as lower grades from its Mt Gordon copper project, continued to impact on operations.

The company said, however, that these issues were short term in nature and management have yet to quantify the full impact on full year 2007 production.

Elsewhere, Minara suffered a loss of 8.5% or 22c to close at $2.36 on the back of a downgraded production forecast from its trouble-plagued Murrin Murrin nickel operation in Western Australia.

Overall, Conquest Mining and Sedimentary Holdings managed to move in the right direction, putting on 45.4% and 38.1%, respectively. Investor interest in Conquest rose after the company claimed it had made the most significant discovery to date at its Mt Carlton project, while Sedimentary was buoyed following a takeover bid from investment company AuSelect.

Finally, it seems investors will have to wait until next week for the much-anticipated release from Australian Mining Investments after the company informed the market it was continuing discussions with the Australian Stock Exchange.