Metals Wrap Up

• Peru Copper Inc. (AMEX: CUP) announced a new discovery. It's trading up around 5% at the moment.

• Northgate Minerals Corporation (AMEX:NXG) is reported the results of a new mineral resource estimate at its Young-Davidson property near Matachewan, Ontario.

• A recent Wall St. Journal report alleged that certain executives have been cheating on their taxes by manipulating the exercise date of their options, mentioning specifically Royal Gold Inc. (RGLD) Chairman and former CEO Stanley Dumpsey by name, among others. Here is a link to a related article that mentions the Wall St. Journal story. When I first read the news, I thought it was neutral to slightly negative for RGLD. However, considering that the amounts of executive compensation have been an issue at RGLD, I now believe that a report that draws scrutiny to the options compensation plan at RGLD is a positive for RGLD. It might be a bit of a stretch, but perhaps that is part of the reason why RGLD has been outperforming during the recent slide in Gold prices.

• Last week, Nevsun Resources Ltd. (AMEX:NSU) was downgraded by downgraded from "buy" to "sell" by Salman and its price target slashed from $5 (Canadian) to $2.85. Today, NSU was started at "outperform" by Haywood, with a price target of $5 (Canadian). Kind of makes you wonder what the different securities houses are really seeing and whether they are looking at the same thing.