Trading Summary (November 19, 2001)

A plus-4% gain by the technology-laden Industrial Products subindex pushed the Toronto Stock Exchange higher to start the week. The TSE 300 composite index rose 107.5 points to close at 7,422.8 points. Suffering a sell-off was the safe haven Gold and Precious Minerals subindex, which tumbled 160.27 points or 3.4% to 4,568.42 points.

Canada’s busiest miner was Franco-Nevada Mining, which fell 1 to $22.89 on more than 2.17 million shares. AngloGold’s chairman Bobby Godsell raised hopes of a sweetened bid for Australia’s Normandy Mining saying in a prepared statement that the company will, "consider all the options available to them before responding to the counterbid.” On Monday, 99.3% of AngloGold shareholders voted in favour of the company’s bid to take over Normandy. Last week, Newmont Mining announced plans to buy Franco-Nevada and make an offer for Normandy, and become the world’s biggest gold producer. For their part, Normandy shares fell 35 to $12.55.

Barrick Gold slid in just behind losing 81 to $22.29 on about 2.16 million shares. Rumours are circling that Barrick may be looking at bidding for the 46.6% of South Africa’s AngloGold shares not owned by parent Anglo American. Barrick refused to comment of the speculation, but the company’s spokesman Vince Borg told Reuters, "We’re always looking at opportunities in the gold mining industry worldwide and in South Africa. That’s the mandate of our corporate development department."

Most of the other gold miners suffered a similar fate. Placer Dome lost 77 to $15.59; Kinross Gold shed 9 to $1.08; and TVX Gold fell 5 to 64.

The nation’s base metal miners saw mostly modest gains. Inco finished up 53 at $25.38; Sherritt International was 13 higher at $4.43; Noranda gained 11 to $14.87; Alcan gained $1.65 to $56.35; and Boliden added 0.5 to hit $31.5. The Metals & Minerals subindex gained 79.9 points or 2% to 4,050.76 points.

On Monday, Reuters reported that Boliden’s Spanish subsidiary Boliden Apirsa, was cleared of responsibility of the failure of a dam at the Los Frailes open pit mine after a thorough judicial investigation. The investigation places the blame for the failure on mistakes in the design and erroneous conclusions of the geological studies, which were carried out prior to construction. The judgment means that Boliden Apirsa can claim third-party damages from the engineers and construction firm involved in building the dam.”

Heading south were Falconbridge, off 2 to $16.16 and Breakwater Resources, 5.5 or 20% lower at 22.5.

Despite the continuing slide in oil & gas related issues, Canada’s junior exchange managed to keep its head above water on the back of strong technology issues. The Canadian Venture Exchange ended the day virtually unchanged, down 0.29 point at 3,051.29. The Mining Index tacked on 10.18 points, or 0.1% to close at 7,744.01.

Andean American Mining added 1 to hit 43 on 300,500 shares. The junior recently announced plans to expand its Santa Rosa pilot plant in southern Peru. By early next year, the company envisions a 3,250-tonne-per-day gold operation on the property.

Leader Mining International continued to soar to new heights, adding 33 to close at $2.72 on 255,700 shares. The junior has been busy tying up ground near Hope, BC. The company has mobilized a rig to its Cogburn nickel property, which covers an ultramafic belt that extends over 60 km northwest from the B.C. Nickel mine (mined and milled a reported 4.2 million tonnes grading 1.19% nickel and 0.46% copper). The junior is also waiting for stream sediment results from the Bright Lake tantalum property near Stony Rapids Saskatchewan.

Drill results from the first eight holes of the latest round of drilling over the Platosa base metal property in Mexico caused shares in Excellon Resources to fall 2, to 25 on a volume of 233,000. Only three of the eight holes cut significant mineralization. About 2,500 metres of a planned 3,000-metre drilling program is complete over the Durango state project.

Quaterra Resource lost 5 to end the day at 18 on 439,800 shares. The company plans to raise $2 million and is currently drilling its Duke Island nickel-copper-platinum-palladium property in Alaska. The first hole reportedly cut 80 metres of sulphide mineralization. Assay results are pending.