Trading Summary (June 07, 2001)

A 1.3% increase by the financial sector wasn’t enough to counter broad losses on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday. The TSE’s 300 composite index closed at 8,191.5 points, 2.89 points lower, thanks to 1%-plus losses in the gold, base metal, oil and gas, pipeline and utilities subindexes.

Teck and Cominco both appeared on the TSE’s most active issue list with respective volumes of 4.5 and 1.8 million shares. Teck dropped $1.22, or 7.5%, to $14.98 and Cominco shed $1.85, or 5.4%, to $32.75. In late April, the two announced plans to merge and become the fourth-largest base metal company in North America, based on market capitalization. Teck already owns a 50% interest in Cominco and will scoop up the other half for $1.5 billion.

Most of the other base metals saw more modest losses. Alcan dropped $1 to $68.40, Inco fell 5 to $28.54, Noranda shed 33 to $16.74 and Breakwater Resources lost a dime to $1.29. Breakwater announced that it has repaid a US$15-million bridge facility and renewed a US$45-million revolving credit facility. Also, three quarterly payments have been deferred on the company’s non-revolving term loan.

Placer Dome was the country’s most active gold stock with 2.1 million shares changing hands. It fell 17 to $15.98. Barrick dropped 54 to $24.35 on 1.1 million shares and Kinross Gold shed 7, or 5.4%, to $1.23 on volume of 1.1 million shares.

On the diamond front, marine diamond miner Namibian Minerals fell a nickel, or 7.1%, to 65. The company posted a first-quarter net loss of US$12.2 million (or US26 per share) on revenues of US$4.7 million, compared with first-quarter earnings of US$2.2 million (US5 per share) on revenues of US$12.2 million last year. Namco continues to be plagued by a months-old accident which put the company’s NamSSol mining system out of commission.

Canada’s junior exchange lost ground on all fronts except the tech sector which posted a 0.2% gain. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index lost 5.62 points, or 0.2%, to close at 3357.66. The mining index lost 1.79 points, and closed at 7245.59.

Latitude Minerals remained flat at 3 with 518,000 shares traded. The company holds the Tonsina PGE property in Alaska, the Pan gold property in Nevada and the Kilgore and Blue Hill gold properties in Idaho. At last report the company acquired a 100% interest in Vulcan Mountain, a platinum-palladium target located seven miles north-northeast of Curlew, Washington.

Orko Gold jumped 7 and closed at 81 with 362,000 shares traded. No news has been released from the company since Orko and TNR Resources signed a termination agreement with respect to Orko’s option on the La Ortiga, El Fierro and Valle del Cura gold properties in northwestern Argentia.

San Telmo Resources tacked on 7 and closed at 82 with 304,000 shares crossing the floor. The company has exploration projects in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. The Patagonia Plateau of Santa Cruz is an emerging new silver and gold district in southern Argentina.

Classic Gold Resources added 11 to its value and closed the day at 50 on 280,000 shares. The company recently announced a private placement worth $200,000. Classic Gold has an option with LMX Resources to acquire a 50% interest in the Haines-Gabbro property, located near Shebandowan, Ontario.

Montello Resources ended the day flat at 15 with 221,000 shares traded. The company announced that it has entered into an agreement with Capital East Ventures for additional oil and gas leases in eastern Tennessee, whereby Montello can earn a 66.6% interest. Montello holds a number of diamond exploration properties in Alberta, Manitoba, and a PGE property near Sudbury, Ontario.

Big Blackfoot Resources remained steady at 4 on 225,000 shares. The company inked a deal with Copper Ridge Exploration to afford Copper Ridge the opportunity to earn up to a 70% interest in its Plata-Inca property, a former high-grade lead-zinc-silver producer, in the Mayo mining district, Yukon Territory.