THE mining index on Friday moved up a record 31% to close the week at 59 points on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) as Bindura Nickel Corporation (BNC) surged 40% following a cautionary statement in which the company projected $3 million profit. VICTORIA MTOMBA

BNC has since December 2013 been trading between 1,29 cents and 2 cents. The share price for the company doubled this month compared to the beginning of this year.

As of Thursday last week, BNC gained 0,40 cents to trade at 4,61 cents. BNC had a special bargain of 4,2 million shares at 4,2 cents each more than the trading price.

The mining index has been on an upward trend since June 5 this year. BNC’s market capitalisation stood at $57 148 170 as of Thursday last week.

“The equities market which bottomed in April 2014 has been on the recovery path ever since. The rebound has seen the mining index reversing losses incurred since the beginning of the year while the industrial index still lies below the 31 December close,” according to the Weekly AfrAsia Zimbabwe Report for the week ending June 20 2014.

BNC was projecting higher figures for its preliminary unaudited results for the second half of the year. The figures were expected to be higher than $3,3 million.

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ZSE has four listed mining counters, namely Hwange, BNC, Falgold and RioZim.

BNC was put under care and maintenance in 2008 as viability challenges threatened the mining company. BNC retrenched over 500 employees to reduce staff costs.

Meanwhile, the industrial index during the week ended June 20 2014 traded upwards, gaining 3,7% on gains in Delta, Hippo, Innscor and Econet.

During the week ended June 20 2014, turnover on the local bourse declined by 57% to $6,1 million compared to $14,3 million recorded the previous week. The previous week turnover was boosted by the $5,1 million CBZ deal.