IGO suspends annual dividends from Tianqi JV amid market downturn
The JV experienced a build in lithium hydroxide inventory at Kwinana over recent months.
Canadian miners were hit hard by falling metal prices, particularly gold, in the third quarter of the year, the latest EY’s Canadian Mining Eye published Thursday shows.
The index — which tracks the sector performance of 100 TSX and TSXV mid-tier and junior companies with market capitalizations between $1.4b and $55m in Q3 — declined 15%, in line with S&P/TSX Composite index, which also plummeted 15% during the quarter.
“Companies continued to focus on strengthening their core businesses by accelerating development of projects, increasing production, managing costs and adding attractively priced assets to their portfolio for strategic objectives,” Bruce Sprague, EY’s Canadian Mining & Metals Leader, said in a statement.
“Still, the M&A momentum we witnessed over the last few months is unlikely to die down soon, as companies will continue to look for attractively priced assets for a long-term strategic advantage,” he added.
Looking forward, the reports suggests increased volatility in gold prices is to be expected with concerns of a slowdown in emerging markets, the fluctuating U.S. dollar and deflation in the Eurozone.
On the positive side, EY anticipates that mergers and acquisitions will continue their momentum from the last few months as bargains continue to develop in the sector. But that’s not enough to bring out sunshine and rainbows for the sector just yet.
“Overall, we expect a sluggish fourth quarter with continued weakness in metal prices,” the report concluded.
