Trading Summary (February 13, 2002)

After running along in the red for most of the day, the Toronto Stock Exchange put on a late afternoon recovery to finish at 7,561.4, up 17.64 points from Tuesday’s end. Helping the exchange lower was the tech-heavy Industrial Products subindex, which shed 35 points to 3,595.49. Also dragging on the 300 composite index were the utilities, off 108.74 points to 11,102.63. The shine on the golds was a bit dimmer, but they managed to gain 43.96 to 6,113.85. The base metal issues rose 101.41 or 2.3% to 4,529.26 to put in the best performance of the day.

In New York, gold fell US$1.20 to US$299.10 per oz. The other shinnies ventured higher led by palladium with a US$20 gain to US$389 per oz.

Kinross Gold remained in investors’ sights trading nearly 2.6 million shares to a penny drop to $1.66. On Tuesday, Kinross said it completed the sale of 23 million common shares to a syndicate of underwriters paving the wave for the company to complete a tender offer for its subsidiary Kinam Gold’s $3.75 Series B convertible preferred shares it doesn’t already own.

Other active gold miners included: Placer Dome, off 7 at $20.26 on 1.65 million shares; Barrick Gold, which added 45 to hit $29.50 with more than 1.6 million shares traded; and TVX Gold, 2 pennies lower at $1.04 on 1.6 million shares.

Inmet Mining was close behind tacking on 12 to make $4.79. A British Columbia court recently awarded Inmet $88.2 million for breach of contract in the aborted sale of the Troilus gold mine in north-central Quebec. Homestake Canada, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Barrick Gold said it will appeal the decision.

Leading the way among the base metal miners was Inco with just fewer than 1.1 million shares changing hands. The issue climbed 94 to $29.80. Others making decent gains were Falconbridge, up 85 or 5.2% to $17.25; Noranda, 52 higher at $16.33; Alcan, up $1.45 to $62.25; and Aur Resources, which rose 17 to $3.87.

On the diamond watch, Mountain Province Diamonds managed to grab a penny to hit 86 after announcing that De Beers Canada Exploration has launched a bulk sampling program on the Hearne and 5034 kimberlite pipes on its Kennady Lake property in the Northwest Territories.

Canada’s junior exchange saw its worse daily loss of the year with decliners outpacing advancers by a 221-to-204 margin. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index dropped 11.58 points, or 1% to close at 1140.89.

Shares in Starfield Resources fell from lofty levels, dropping 7 to close at 95 on a volume of 436,137. The company recently retained Warrior, a division of Standard Bank of London to provide corporate finance and strategic advice for the Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-platinum-palladium project in Nunavut.

Majescor Resources added 21 to close at $1.56 on 305,300 shares. The junior announced an aggressive drill program over its Wemindji diamond property in Quebec. Slated to start later this month, the program will test 10 to 15 geophysical anomalies.

TNR Resources gave back all of yesterday’s gains, losing 5 to close at 14 on 233,000 shares. The junior is aiming to advance the La Ortiga gold project in the San Juan province of Argentina.

Rhonda added 3 to 45 on 299,650 shares. The company holds 122,000 acres of ground in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. In 2000, Rhonda began a joint venture with De Beers Exploration to investigate a geophysical target on Rhonda’s property leading to the discovery of the Knife kimberlite.