Trading Summary (February 27, 2002)

The gold issues continued their see-sawing on Wednesday dropping 143.18 points or 2.3% to 6,045.72. The Toronto Stock Exchange‘s remaining subindices went the other way. The base metal issues were among eight of the TSE fourteen subgroups to put in plus-1% gains tacking on 70.1 points to finish at 4,686.62. The best percentage gain on the day was put in by the Pipelines subindex, which added about 2.4%. Overall, the TSE 300 added 79.43 to end at 7,646.90.

South American Gold and Copper was Canada’s busiest miner gaining 0.5 to 12 with nearly 3 million shares traded. The company’s 52-week high is 15. Late on Tuesday, the company announced the completion of a $990,000 private placement of 24 million units. One unit comprised one share plus half a share warrant. One warrant allows the holder to buy one share for 5.5 for two years. The company says the proceeds will go toward the acquisition of mining claims, drilling and working capital.

Rounding out the TSE’s top ten traded list were TVX gold, off a penny at $1.14 and Placer Dome, 68 lower at $18.90.

Cambior gained 4 to $1.36. On Wednesday, the company announced that a group of underwriters led by Sprott Securities and including National Bank Financial and Scotia Capital bought another 7.5 million of the company’s special warrants at $1.30 each. The same group bought about 13.8 million special warrants at the same price earlier this month. Combined the deals add $27.8 million to Cambior’s coffers.

LionOre Mining International gained 40 or 13% to hit $3.48. Follow-up drilling on the newly discovered Waterloo zone at its 60% held Wildara project in Western Australia returned more high-grade nickel mineralization. The 19-hole program also returned six barren holes. Assay results for six other holes are pending.

Falconbridge finished at $17.10, off 23, and Noranda lost 16 to $16.69. The two took centre stage among the base metal miners on Wednesday when it was announced that Falco’s long-time chief executive Oyvind Hushovd was replaced by Derek Pannell, the CEO of Falco’s parent company Noranda. The move came following differences over the future direction of the nickel and copper mining giant. Noranda currently owns 57% of Falconbridge and has been slowly increasing its stake.

Most of the others saw modest gains. Teck Cominco’s B series was the busiest gaining 23 to $14.55 on more than 1.3 million shares. Inco added 68 to $29.80 with more than a million shares on the go.

Canada’s junior exchange moved higher with advancers edging out decliners by a 218-to-216 margin. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index gained 6.09 points, or 0.6% to close at 1111.74.

Verena Minerals added 1 to close at 25 on nearly 1.1 million shares. The junior announced that it has identified a significant gold-tungsten-bismuth skarn deposit on its wholly owned Bonfim property in northeastern Brazil. A pre-feasibility study determined that total reserves and resources tally 1 million oz of gold and over 30,000 tonnes of tungsten.

Ecstall Mining ended the day flat at 5 on 430,000 shares. The junior has staked 5 diamond exploration properties in the Otish Mountains of Quebec, some 60 km west of Ashton Mining of Canada’s recent discovery.

Madison Enterprise continues to trade heavily ahead of its Annual General Meeting set for April 17. The company ended the session unchanged at 10 on 530,000 shares. Madison holds the Mt. Kare gold property in Papua New Guinea.

Diadem Resources added 1 to close at 7 on 310,500 shares. La Parrena Mining Company, a 100% subsidiary of Industrias Penoles, is exploring the junior’s El Nino claim group in Mexico. The project is one of five claim groups owned by Diadem in the Zacatecas area.