Trading Summary (December 04, 2001)

Bargain hunters helped the Toronto Stock Exchange rebound to the tune of 75.28 points on Tuesday. The TSE 300 composite index finished at 7,450.1 after dropping 50.85 points to start the week. Monday’s goat, the Industrial Products subindex, led the charge gaining 3.8%. The golds returned much of Monday’s gains falling 77.09 points or 1.6% to 4,839.33. The base metal issues slipped another 18.9 points to 3,970.44.

Boliden was again the busiest mining stock on the day falling a penny to 27.5 with nearly 5.2 million shares on the go. The company has received the nod from shareholders and the court for its planned “redomiciliation” to Sweden.

Most of the country’s remaining base metal miners suffered losses. Inco dropped a quarter to $24.89; Falconbridge shed 14 to $15.86; Noranda fell a nickel to $14.50; And Alcan was 80 lower at $55.40. The few on the plus side included Teck Cominco, up 9 to $11.10; Sherritt International, a nickel higher at $4; Aur Resources, which climbed 2 to $3.07.

On Tuesday, Alcan announced that it would cut 805 jobs at its aluminum foil and rolled products plants in Europe. The move is part of a larger program aimed at reducing its workforce by 3,640 or 5 to 7%. The reductions will affect all 200 workers at Alcan’s Glasgow site, up to 310 of 600 workers at its Rogerstone plant in Newport, South Wales, and 95 of 550 at Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. Alcan will also exit from non-core products at its Pieve plant in Milan. The plant employs 200.

The country’s gold miners were using mostly red ink by the end of the day. Placer Dome was the busiest shedding 40 to $16.95 on nearly 1.2 million shares. Barrick Gold fell 35 to $23.75; Kinross gold dropped 4 to $1.11; TVX Gold finished a penny lower at 65 and Cambior slipped 4 to 72.

Franco-Nevada Mining shares lost 56 to $23 while Normandy’s issue gained 50 to $13.50. Normandy’s board of directors is urging shareholders to take a wait-and-see attitude toward AngloGold’s sweetened bid. Rumours are swirling of a third bidder surfacing, one name making the rounds is Barrick Gold.

Among the smaller producers, Homestake Canada shot up $1.49 or 13.5% to $12.50 and Viceroy Resources gained a penny or 12.5%. Heading the other way were High River Gold Mines, off 6 or 10.5% to 51; Chesbar Resources, a penny or 11% lower at 8; and Yamana Resources, which fell a penny or 10% to 9.

A late-day rally helped pull Canada’s junior exchange out of the red. The Canadian Venture Exchange ended the day virtually unchanged gaining 0.96 point to finish the day at 3,080.43. The Mining Index faired slightly better climbing 54.18 points, or 0.7% to close at 7,918.49.

Shares in Sultan Minerals failed to get a boost on news that a second metallurgical study on core from the Gold Mountain zone in southeastern BC confirmed that the mineralization is amenable to cyanidation treatment. Stock in the junior lost 3 to close at 26 on 172,620 shares. The company is currently drill testing the prospect on its Kena property near Nelson.

Cantex Mine Development ended the day down a penny at 6 on 216,000 shares. The Charles Fipke-led junior is evaluating gold and base metal project in Yemen and has an interest in a promising diamond project in Greenland.

Aurora Platinum continued to move off its recent lows, edging up 6 to close at $2.69 on 78,825 shares. The junior continues to actively explore for nickel-copper-platinum-palladium mineralization in Ontario and Quebec. On the Foy Project in the Sudbury area, Aurora launched a second round of drilling on the Nickel Lake discovery.

The market ignored the latest drill results from Mindoro Resources’ Pan de Azucar copper-gold project in the Philippines. Shares in the Tony Climie-led company ended the day unchanged at 10.