Trading Summary (August 03, 2001)

The Toronto Stock Exchange slipped 11.99 points in quiet trading to end the week at 7,744.2 on Friday. The TSE’s merchandising subindex put in the best performance, rising 67.56 points, or more than 1%. The golds gained 27.57 points and the base metal issue edged up 7.3 points.

In New York, the precious metals were split, with gold and palladium making modest gains and silver and platinum slipping slightly. All of the base metals were lower on the London Metal Exchange.

Barrick Gold led the country’s gold miners with just fewer than 1 million shares on the move. The stock nudged up 1 to $22.23. On the plus side were Franco-Nevada Mining, up 70 to $20, Goldcorp, 45 higher at $15.95, Meridian Gold, up a quarter to $13.35, and Wheaton River Minerals, which gained 3 to 74.

Heading the other way were Kinross Gold, off a nickel to $1.25, and Echo Bay Mines, 4 lower at $1.34. Kinross reported a narrower second-quarter loss of US$6 million (or 3 per share) on mining revenue of US$70.7 million. Echo Bay posted its own second-quarter loss of US$400,000 (3 per share) on revenue of US$63.6 million.

The busiest base metal miner was Boliden with more than 2.3 million shares on the go. The restructuring miner’s stock was unchanged at 30.5. Next closest was Teck, which saw less than 1 million shares change hands and fall 43 to $11.65. Standing out on the upside were Inco, up 22 to $26.10, Sherritt International, up 13 to $5.28, Aur Resources, up 11 to $2.71, and Uranium producer Cameco, which tacked on $1.52, or 4.9%, to hit $32.52. Late on Thursday, Cameco posted $12 million in second-quarter earnings (22 per share) on revenues of $138 million.

Canada’s junior exchange ended a roller coaster week buy posting solid gains across the board. The Canadian Venture Exchange tacked on 22.40 points, or 0.7% to finish the day at 3,099.74. The Mining Index surged 111.14 points, or 1.5% to close at 7,462.46.

Poplar Resources tacked on 2 to end the week at 25 on 399,000 shares. The junior recently announced a $1-million financing aimed to advance its Bottenbacken palladium-copper project and the Sundsvall diamond property, both in Sweden.

Leader Mining International continued to move higher following the recent announcement that money is in place to move forward on the Cogburn nickel property in BC. The junior added another 3 on the day to close the week at 97 on 242,000 shares.

Starfield Resources bounced off recent lows to close at 52, up 2 on 266,500 shares. The company has three rigs turning at its Ferguson Lake low-grade nickel-copper-platinum-palladium property in Nunavut.

Rhonda ended the week flat at 39 on 155,000 shares. The junior has launched a till sampling program on the Inulik diamond property in Nunavut.

Patricia Mining lost 4 to 30 with one big 850,000-share block changing hands. The company holds the Island gold property near Wawa, Ontario. A five-hole drill program over the North Shear target returned significant gold values over a 250-metre strike length.