This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

New York spot gold closed up $7.50 to $1,268.40, as the U.S. dollar fell following a disappointing August jobs report. The American economy added 142,000 jobs last month, missing analysts' 225,000-job projection. Analysts had also been talking up a seventh consecutive month of job increases over 200,000. Here in Canada, where the economy lost jobs last month, the TSX Venture Exchange lost a fraction of a point to 994.89, while the TSX Gold Index rose a fraction to 188.42.

Major Canadian gold miners ended some up, others down. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) added 13 cents to $18.64, Eldorado Gold Corp. (ELD) added 13 cents to $8.32, Alamos Gold Inc. (AGI) slipped one cent to $9.69 and Goldcorp Inc. (G) lost 22 cents to $28.

Alex Granger's Barisan Gold Corp. (BG) slipped one-half cent to 19 cents on 601,000 shares. The stock is up from 12.5 cents last month, thanks to pleasing assays from the company's Upper Tenkereng gold property in Indonesia. Barisan plans to continue drilling there all year. To help chief executive Granger concentrate on work in Indonesia, he has hired Shawn Westcott as president in Vancouver. Mr. Westcott will be in charge of spreading the good word about Barisan in North America. He spent his previous three years doing investor relations for Niocorp Developments Ltd. (NB: $0.72), a Nebraskan niobium explorer. There, Barisan points out, he "raised substantial funds and saw its [Niocorp's] share price increase by 500 per cent." That is correct. Niocorp's stock has climbed to 72 cents from 12 cents last year. But Mr. Westcott was with Niocorp for three years. The stock was 55 cents in mid-2011, so assuming Mr. Westcott started around then, the stock has risen to 72 cents from 55 cents, which is still good but less impressive than 500 per cent. The substantial funds Mr. Westcott helped raise totalled $5.42-million, which is also good, but Niocorp had been hoping to raise more than three times as much, $20-million. At Barisan, Mr. Westcott will be trying to close a financing of $3-million at 15 cents. Before Niocorp, he spent a year as a broker with TD Waterhouse.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS