Barrick Gold and Silver Wheaton trades halted

[theo]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecch ... r=yahootix

This appears to be due a to 16 million dollar environoomental fine over a mine in Peru. It sounds like an over-reaction, but there is obviously more to it as this is a very large mining operation.

[theo]

Actually the mine is in Chile not Peru. The Chilian government has apparently halted construction of an ABX/SLW mine.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chile- ... 2013-05-24

Chile's government has halted construction at Barrick Gold's /quotes/zigman/12772/quotes/nls/abx ABX -0.51% Pascua-Lama project, according to reports Friday. Trading in U.S. shares of Barrick Gold were halted prior to the news reports, and remained halted at $19.45, down 0.5%. Dow Jones reported Chile has also fined the company $15.8 million for not meeting norms stipulated in the environmental approval received in 2006. The mine straddles the Andes Mountains into Argentina. Silver Wheaton Corp. /quotes/zigman/32540/quotes/nls/slw SLW +0.91% shares were also halted. The company has an interest in the mine.

Hopefully this only a short-term hiccup. However, trading halts are serious and (IMHO) can erode investor confidence in a stock.

On the flip side this can potentially further squeeze supply, benefits those who hold the physical metal.

[galenrog]

Chile has a history of this. Shut down a mine for one reason or another, demand appropriate fines or fees be paid to the right departments or municipalities, and when enough legal playoffs are made the mine may reopen. Did the managers or employees of Barrick actually do anything wrong? It does not really matter.

[theo]

Chile has a history of this. Shut down a mine for one reason or another, demand appropriate fines or fees be paid to the right departments or municipalities, and when enough legal playoffs are made the mine may reopen. Did the managers or employees of Barrick actually do anything wrong? It does not really matter.

That makes sense. However, that being the case it seems like the halt in trading was an a bit of an over-reaction.

[InfleXion]

One of Forbes' employees commented in the first link indicating that the trading halt could have been at the behest of Barrick to preempt the impact of the press release.

I suppose that's their prerogative, but it seems silly that a company can suspend their own stock anytime they feel like it. Especially the largest gold miner on the planet

And what's to stop Chile from nationalizing the mine after squeezing some money out of them?