Trading Summary (April 22, 2003)

Toronto’s gold stocks retreated to the tune of 2.15 points or 1.3% to settle at 161.62 on Tuesday. The base metal miners returned most of Monday’s gains dropping 0.6 of a point to end at 120.76. Overall, the S&P/TSX Composite Index managed to gain 12.16 points to settle at 6,582.92.

Wheaton River Minerals ranked as the most traded mining stock, unchanged at $1.37 on about 5.9 million shares. Wheaton recently announced a deal to sell its La Guitarra silver-gold mine in Mexico to Genco Resources for US$5 million, including US$100,000 cash and US$900,000 worth of Genco shares on closing. The balance can be paid in cash or shares over 8 years. Wheaton picked the mine up via its acquisition of Luismin. La Guitarra produced 13,400 gold equivalent ounces in 2002.

Barrick Gold, off 40 to $22.48, was the next busiest miner with fewer than half as many shares changing hands. Barrick will deliver its first-quarter financial results on April 28.

McWatters Mining shed a penny to 20 on about 1.8 million shares. The company’s Sigma mill in Val d’Or, Que., has been temporarily shut down after power fluctuation problems over the weekend. Milling should resume in several days.

Canada’s remaining major gold producers followed Barrick’s lead, Placer Dome fell 18 to $14.79 and Kinross Gold lost 15 to make $9.31.

The base metal miners weren’t much better off. Teck Cominco fell a quarter to $10.72 on 1.28 million shares to lead the way. Late on Monday, Teck posted first-quarter earnings of $11 million (or 6 per share) on revenue of $574 million, compared with a $2 million (1 per share) profit on revenues of $501 million a year earlier. The others saw far less traffic. On the minus side were: Inco, off 34 to $28.13; Falconbridge down 29 to $16; and LionOre Mining International, 2 pennies poorer at $5.33.

Canada’s junior exchange lost some ground with advancing stocks loosing to declining stocks 244 to 328. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 2.56 points, or 0.24%, and closed the day at 1,047.31 with 32.6 million shares traded.

Spider Resources was the day’s volume leader among junior explorers ending the session flat at 14 with 1.77 million shares traded. The junior and joint venture partner, over the counter-listed, KWG Resources recently reported more massive sulphide intercepts on their Spider #3 base metal prospect in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario.

Bear Creek Mining, formerly EVEolution Ventures, resumed trading today and soared 54, or 180%, and finished the day at 84 with 917,000 shares traded. The David Lowell-led company is focusing its efforts on gold exploration in Peru. The company completed a public offering on April 1st that consisted of 12 million units priced at US50 per unit for a gross proceeds of US$6 million. The company has 27 million shares outstanding, of which 16.5 million are subject to escrow or pooling restrictions. The company has granted 2.1 million incentive stock options to directors, officers and employees at a price of US$0.50.

Mag Silver, formerly Mega Capital Investments, rocketed 40, or 500%, and finished the day at 48 with 550,700 shares traded. The company filed a prospectus on March 31st and holds options to earn a 100% interest in three properties in Mexico; the Juanicipio, Don Fippi and the Guigui properties. The junior has 17.6 million shares outstanding and 1.8 million shares that are subject to escrow.