Metals and Mining: Winners and Losers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Endeavour Silver (EXK), New Gold (NGD), Brigus Gold (BRD), Yamana Gold (AUY) and Walter Energy (WLT) showed strength last week; James River Coal (JRCC), Westmoreland Coal (WLB), ArcelorMittal (MT), Yanzhou Coal Mining (YZC), Mechel (MTL) and Gold Reserve (GRZ) were the notable losers.

Endeavour Silver led the winners' list last week, up 19.6%.

Precious metals showed relative strength last week, pushing New Gold and Brigus Gold up 14.9% and 12.3%, respectively, last week.

Yamana Gold advanced 12.2%.

Walter Energy gained 11.2%, after an upgrade at FBR.

The Johannesburg-based fourth-largest producer of precious metals, Gold Fields (GFI), climbed 10.8% after posting 15% net profit growth during the second quarter, buoyed by rallying gold prices and higher production.

Other movers Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM) rose 11%, Eldorado Gold (XOM) gained 10.5%, Silver Wheaton (SLW) boosted 9.2%, Stillwater Mining (SWC) moved up 8.9% and Alexco Resource (AXU) piled 8.9%.

Barrick Gold (ABX) rose 1% as it seeks to invest $50 million to fully realize the copper reserve wealth at its Lumwana Mine in Solwezi.

Goldcorp (GG) advanced 7.8% after declaring its eighth monthly dividend payment of 3.4 cents per share for 2011.

Randgold Resources (GOLD), MAG Silver (MVG), Harmony Gold Mining (HMY) and US Gold (UXG) racked up average gains of 6%.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura (BVN) increased 5.7% last week. The company has received necessary permits from Peru's Energy and Mining Ministry to start metallurgical operations at Tantahuatay.

James River Coal declined 14.9%, topping the losers pack after Brean Murray downgraded the stock from buy to hold.

Westmoreland Coal erased 13.5% last week.

ArcelorMittal dived 10.7% after a blast furnace failed at its New Castle facility in South Africa, Bloomberg reports.

Yanzhou Coal Mining, Mechel and Gold Reserve wiped out an average 10% each.

Other laggards included POSCO (PKX) (-8.8%), Metalico (MEA) (-8.7%), Platinum Group Metals (WMT) (-8.6%) and Solitario Exploration & Royalty (XPL) (- 8.5%).

Kaiser Aluminum (KALU), Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH), United States Steel (X), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Schnitzer Steel Industries (SCHN) shed around 5.8% to 7.3%, on average.