Trading Summary (May 16, 2002)

All of the Toronto Stock Exchange’s subindices finished modestly higher on Thursday. The Gold index led the way with a 1.35% rise to 197.05 points. The Diversified Metals & Mining subindex edged up 0.01 point to 145.31 points. Overall, the TSX/S&P Composite Index gained 31.13 points to 7,738.11.

Vaulting to the TSX’s third most traded spot, contract miner Dynatec grabbed 2 pennies to hit 69 with nearly 11 million shares on the go. On Wednesday, Dynatec and partner Fort Knox Gold Resources announce the discovery of new nickel mineralization in a previously undrilled area on the McCreedy West property. For its part, Fort Knox’s stock rose 40 or 10% to $4.42. Dynatec will share exploration and development costs at McCreedy in return for a 25% interest in the property.

Echo Bay Mines was the next closets miner rising 6 to $1.25. Earlier this week, the company priced its public offering of units, comprising one share plus a purchase warrant exercisable at US9 per share, at US70 apiece. The company plans to sell 34 million units. The underwriters have an over-allotment option to buy another 5.1 million units over a month. The deal is set to close by Friday.

Other gold issues in the spotlight were Cambior, plus 3 pennies to $2.14, Kinross, which finished a nickel higher at $$3.15, and Placer Dome, plus 51 to $19.50.

Bema Gold tacked on 6 to make $1,85. On Thursday, Bema and Kinross announced that an arbitrator had awarded them US$20 million plus interest in a case related to the original construction of the Refugio open-pit heap-leach gold mine in northern Chile.

Alcan outpaced the nation’s base metal miners climbing a nickel to $62 with nearly 2 million shares changing hands. Other on the rise were Teck Cominco’s B series, plus 30 to $14.20 and Aur Resources, up 2 to $4.17. Inco, Falconbridge, Noranda and Sherritt International all suffered modest losses. Inco’s was the biggest at 55 or 1.6%.

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite gained 10.85 points or nearly 1% to hit 1,167.98. Gold Hawk Resources was the most traded junior explorer unchanged at 73 with nearly 1.4 million shares traded. Mid-tier producer Meridian Gold recently closed an equity deal with Gold Hawk allowing it to explore Gold Hawk’s Machacala gold-silver property in Peru.

Allican Resources fell 3 to 64 on 743, 671 shares and Wolfden Resources soared 44 or 34% to $1.75. Wolfden is gearing up for a $2-million program of diamond drilling and airborne geophysics at its High Lake volcanogenic massive sulphide property in Nunavut’s Bathurst Inlet.