Oreninc Index Stays Positive 

The Oreninc Index remained positive for the week ending July 17, 2014. Total dollars announced on the week rose to $175.3m, a three-week high. Four brokered deals were announced for $80.3m, a three-week high. No bought deals were announced for the first time in four weeks. 

Despite the metal falling to almost a four-week low on Tuesday, a number of gold deals occurred this week, with Barrick’s deal to Joint Venture with Saudi Arabia Mining on their Jabal Sayid copper mine near Medina, Saudi Arabia leading the way.

Oreninc Index Remains Level

The Oreninc Index remained flat for the week ending July 10, 2014. The week included America’s Fourth of July holiday; while it did not affect the amount of trading days, deal flow slowed with less than $3m announced on four deals that day. Total dollars announced for the week were $83.4m, a three-week low. Brokered and bought dollars announced were both $44m on four deals, both two-week highs.

The run of copper deals continued this week with Boliden purchasing Altona Mining’s Kylylahti copper mine in Finland for US$95m. The activity seen this July is encouraging, given the month’s history of being one of the two worst months of the year for financing.

Oreninc Index Remains Strong in Holiday-Shortened Week

The Oreninc Index remained strong in the holiday-shortened week ending July 3, 2014. This week’s performance is characterized by good numbers, although it clearly does not match the previous week as indicated by a slew of two-week lows. Total dollars announced fell to $93.6m, a two-week low. Brokered dollars announced dropped to $36.5m, a two-week low, and bought dollars announced dropped to $32m, also a two-week low.

While financing activity remained up this week, deal-making subsided, which is unsurprising given the holidays in the US and Canada. It is a good sign that companies are able to raise cash in the first week of summer; a couple more weeks like the previous two, and the stronger weeks will become less of a surprise and more of an expected performance.

Oreninc Index Scores Biggest Uptick of 2014

The Oreninc Index increased by its largest margin of 2014 for the week ending June 26, 2014. After last week’s implosion, this type of performance, where all metrics have increased by an impressive margin, is a welcome sight. Total dollars announced exploded to $188.4m, a 15-week high. Brokered dollars announced rose to $122.3m, a 15-week high; bought dollars announced increased to $92m, a 16-week high. 

In addition to the positive fundraising news, HudBay announced its long-awaited acquisition of Augusta Resources (and with it their Rosemont Copper project), in what is a follow-up of sorts to last week’s deal making in the copper space. While it is always good to see activity like this, it is important to remember that the positive fundraising numbers are likely a direct result of companies wanting to get news out before next week’s holiday-filled work week and the uptick in spot gold prices this week. Don’t expect the Index to stay at this level for very long, with it likely to trend down to a more modest level after next week.

Oreninc Index Crashes in Deal-Heavy Week

The Oreninc Index crashed for the week ending June 19, 2014. This is a significant drop in activity in the financing space after last week’s rebound. Total dollars announced dropped to $19.8m, a YTD-low. One brokered deal was announced for $0.5m, a 25-week low; no bought deals were announced. While financing activity was down, there were a number of copper deals in the space, specifically First Quantum’s purchase of Lumina Copper and Aston Bay Holdings’ announced partnership with Antofagasta.