Base metal miners sink, gold miners raise N. America

TORONTO: Shares of North American base metal miners tumbled on Monday along with the price of copper, zinc, and nickel after the downgrade of the US credit rating by S&P amplified fears of a global economic slowdown.

Shares of US miner Freeport McMoRan and Canada's First Quantum and Teck Resources among others, fell sharply in New York and Toronto.

Copper, used in the power and construction industries, fell as low as $8,950 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange on Monday its lowest level since late June. Copper tumbled by 7.9 percent last week in its largest weekly fall since June 2010.

Shares of Freeport, one of the world's top copper miners, were down 3.8 percent at $44.23 early Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, while First Quantum was down 6.2 percent at C$108.86 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Shares of Teck, which mines copper, zinc and metallurgical coal, were down 5.5 percent at C$39.30 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shares of other base metal-focused companies including Ivanhoe Mines , Lundin Mining Quadra FNX and others also fell sharply on Monday.

While base metal miners floundered, gold miners rallied as the price of the precious metal rose above $1,700 an ounce for the first time.

Gold has risen over 40 percent in the last 12 months, as concerns about US and European sovereign debt drive investment into the traditional safe haven.

Spot gold was trading at $1,697.16 at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) on Monday after touching a record $1,715.01 earlier in the day.

Shares of Barrick Gold, the world's top gold miner, were up more than 1 percent, along with those of its rivals Goldcorp and Newmont Mining

Copyright Reuters, 2010