TSE crawls higher as gold breaks US$330 per oz.

The Toronto Stock Exchange composite index began the Dec. 11-17 report period on an upswing, peaked, then crashed as skittish investors counted their blessings and ran for the hills. Still, the index ended the five trading days 24.32 points stronger than at the start, finishing at 6,621.52.

Gold, in a display not seen in more than five years, soared past the US$330-per-oz. barrier to end the period at a London morning fix of US$337.05 per oz. The spectacular finish translates into a gain of US$13.30 over the period.

Kinross Gold was the most sought-after of the producers, rising 13 to $3.25 on a volume exceeding 50.3 million shares. Next came Placer Dome, which spiked $1.91 to $28.05 as 18 million shares changed hands.

Barrick Gold also finished ahead, rising $1.50 to $24.65, before reversing course on Dec. 18 after news broke that it had become the target of an anti-trust suit. New Orleans-based Blanchard & Co., the largest retail dealer of physical gold in the U.S., has accused the producer and J.P. Morgan Chase of supressing the price of gold for the purpose of short-selling and wants their trading agreements cancelled as a result. By presstime, Barrick had slipped 34.

Cambior was granted a 25-year renewable mining licence from the government of Suriname to develop its Rosebel gold project. Construction will begin once the company has secured political risk insurance and then take about 12 months to complete. Commercial production is still expected to start in 2004. Cambior rose 44 to $2.25.

Noranda was the biggest newsmaker in the base metals sector, announcing its decision to postpone development of the Perseverance project in Quebec. The miner cites poor zinc prices for the decision and does not expect them to improve until 2005 or 2006. Perserverance is near the Matagami concentrator and hosts some 5.1 million tonnes grading 15.82% zinc and 1.24% copper, plus 29.4 grams silver and 0.35 gram gold per tonne. Noranda finished the period at $14.43, up 19.

Unwilling to concede defeat, Sherritt International and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan upped their hostile takeover offer for Fording and then mailed out dissident proxy letters against a friendly counter-bid from Teck Cominco and Westshore Terminal Income Fund. If Teck and Westshore have their way, Fording’s assets will be combined with some of Teck’s coal assets and the whole lot then turned into a trust fund. Sherritt rose two pennies to $4.18, while Teck Cominco B-series shares jumped 72 to $11.53.

Junior McWatters Mining rose 4 to 19 as it tabled a positive feasibility study at its East Amphi gold project in northwestern Quebec. The report pegs the project’s pretax internal rate of return at 43.6%, assuming capital costs ring in at $13.5 million, as expected. The company also released encouraging underground drilling results from its neighbouring Kiena gold mine, which has been idle since September.