Trading Summary (April 17, 2002)

The golds rocketed 221.13 points or 3.7% to 6,157.57 on Wednesday helping the Toronto Stock Exchange 26.53 points higher to 7,868.1. The yellow metal grabbed US$3.30 per oz. to hit US$301.90 per oz. in New York. The oil & gas and utilities subindices both put in plus-1% gains.

Kinross Gold and Barrick Gold remained among the TSE’s top ten most traded issues gaining a nickel and $1.06, respectively. Kinross finished at $2.14 and Barrick at $28.96. But, the busiest mining issue on the day was diamond explorer Tahera, which rose 4 pennies to 39 with just short of 3 million shares changing hands.

Tahera recently reported good news from its Anuri diamond project, a joint venture with Kennecott in Nunavut. The first drill hole of the current exploration program has significantly expanded the tonnage potential of the diamond-bearing Anuri kimberlites.

Most of the country’s remaining gold miners enjoyed gold’s glow posting decent gains. Placer Dome grabbed 90 or 4.9% to make $19.20, Glamis Gold rose 3.1% to $9.20, Iamgold gained 6.7% to $5.76, NovaGold tacked on 7.6% to hit $3.55, and Miramar Mining found 7% to make $1.37.

The base metal miners put in mostly more modest gains climbing 44.97 points to end at 4,822.91 as a group. Leading the way was Noranda, which climbed 47 to $19.97, a new 52-week high, with a handful more than 1.2 million shares on the go. Falconbridge was next in line with nearly 1.1 million shares crossing the floor to gain 90 to $20.75, a new 52-week high for it.

Inco tacked on a quarter to make $33.45, a nickel of its recent year-high value. On Wednesday, Inco returned to profitability posting net earnings of US$11 million for the three months ended March 31, 2002.

Canada’s junior exchange continued to lack leadership with volume remaining on the low side. The Standard & Poor’s-CDNX Composite Index gained 2.50 points, or 0.2% and closed at 1,157.67.

Grayd Resources ended the session at 15, up 3 on just over 1 million shares. The junior has been seeking a new partner for its White gold project in Alaska. Late last year, Placer Dome U.S. dropped its option on the property located in the Delta district.

Starfield Resources added 6 to close at 99 on 596,000 shares. The junior has the drill rigs turning on its Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-platinum-palladium project in Nunavut.

Northern Dynasty Minerals jumped 3 to close at $1.08 on 41,500 shares. The Hunter Dickinson led junior is gearing up to start drilling the Pebble copper-gold porphyry property in Alaska.

Philex Gold continued to move modestly higher on weak volume. The company’s joint venture partner, Anglo American is currently drilling the promising Boyongan copper-gold prospect in the Philippines. Shares of Philex added 4 to $1.06 on a volume of 21,000.

First Point Minerals finished the session near a 52-week high, up 2 to 49 on 66,000 shares. The company has resumed work on the Cacamuya epithermal gold property in Honduras.