Trading Summary (December 04, 2003)

Thursday was another positive day on the Toronto equity markets, as the TSX Composite index rose 33.46 points to 7,993.34. The energy stocks, with a 3% gain, left the other sectors in the dust, but the base metals had the best view of the dust cloud, picking up just over 1% as the TSX Metals and Mining index closed at 207.28.

Teck Cominco was the volume leader again on Thursday, with 2.9 million B-series shares moving. They gained 70 to finish at $19.40. Sherritt International was the biggest gainer, jumping a quarter to $5.56 for a 4.7% gain. Another mid-tier nickel producer, LionOre Mining International, picked up 18 to close at $7.55.

Profit-taking continued in the gold group, bringing the TSX Gold index down 3.43 points to 238.35. The biggest news in the gold sector, sensibly saved until after the close, was that Kinross Gold and Bema Gold had decided to re-start the Refugio gold mine in Chile. Kinross was one of only two golds on the index to rise, picking up 6 to close at $11.95; Bema was off 20 at $5.19. The other winner in the gold index was Gabriel Resources, which added a penny to close at $4.55.

Most of the sharper falls were among the smaller producers: Cambior was down 26 at $4.35, Eldorado Gold slipped 16 to $4.39, and Golden Star Resources pulled back 27 to $10.06. Wheaton River Minerals, which was off a nickel at $4.05, was the volume leader among the golds, with 11.6 million shares changing hands.

The most actively traded junior was Tahera Corp., which was down half a cent at 29. TVI Pacific, down half a cent at 22 on a volume of 5.1 million shares, seems to be getting more interest for its Chinese exploration properties than for increased production at its Canatuan gold-silver project in the Philippines.

Another heavily-traded junior was Southern Cross Resources, which was down a penny at $1.05 on a volume of 3.5 million shares. Southern Cross announced a private placement for $5 million to $6 million dollars, for expanded drilling at its Honeymoon uranium project in South Australia.

Canada’s junior exchange traded in the red with advancing stocks loosing to declining stocks 410 to 479. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 7.53 points, or 0.44%, and closed at 1,704.15.

American Bonanza Gold Mining closed at 41, up half a penny, with 1.5 million shares changing hands. The company released more assay results from its ongoing drilling campaign of the D-Zone at its Copperstone project in Arizona. Drill hole number 4 encountered a 32 ft. interval averaging 23 grams gold per tonne. This included a 12 ft. interval that averaged 43 grams gold. Drill hole number 5 was terminated before encountering the main D-Zone structure, and will be lengthened.

Intrepid Minerals finished the day up 9 with 1.18 million shares traded. The Toronto-based junior reports high-grade gold and silver values from a trenching program on the Kamila zone at its Casposo property in northwestern Argentina’s San Juan province. A vein intersection in a steep rock face that has returned trenching values of 4.5 metres true width of 32.2 grams gold and 245 grams silver per tonne. This area will soon be targeted by follow-up drilling.

Cabo Mining closed up a penny to 13 with 992,000 shares traded. Recently the company announced the acquisition of a gold-copper-silver-molybdenite property, located about 35 km west of Kenora, Ontario. According to the option agreement, Cabo must make cash payments of $30,000 and issue 100,000 post-consolidated common shares over a period of two years and complete exploration expenditures of $200,000 over three years. On December 19, shareholders will be requested to approve a consolidation of the company’s common shares on a five old for one new share basis and a name change to Cabo Mining Enterprises.