Toronto Stock Exchange Jan. 15-21

The TSX Composite Index hasn’t seen days this bad since 9/11. The index fell 1,500 points over the Jan. 15-21 trading period and commodities were caught up in the rout.

With fears that a U.S. recession will thwart demand for natural resources, speculators — whose purchase of commodities over the last few years has propelled prices to record highs — are now selling to cover losses in the equity markets.

The losses on commodity prices are coming as investors flee the equity markets, making for a double dose of bad news for miners.

All the activity sent precious metals prices down. Gold fell roughly US$50 to US$862 per oz., silver fell almost US$1 to US$15.57 per oz., and platinum came down to US$1,577 an oz.

Lower prices took their toll on the heavyweights of the gold mining industry as Yamana Gold fell $2.95 to $14.30 on a heavy 52 million shares traded, while Barrick Gold lost $5.90 to finish at $46.47 on roughly 26 million shares traded.

The base metals didn’t fare any better, all heading lower: copper fell to US$3.13 per lb.; aluminum to US$1.07 per lb.; nickel to US$12.39 per lb.; tin to US$7.33 per lb.; zinc lost 5 to US$1.02 per lb.; and lead came down to US$1.14 per lb.

Inmet Mining had the biggest price drop of the base metal producers, losing $13.56 to finish at $61.01, while Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan fell $33.19 to $119.57 after an astonishing bull run up from its $45 share price at this time last year.

The Global Gold Index lost roughly 45 points to finish the period at 332.21, while the Capped Metals and Mining Index lost 138.68 points to finish at 614.14.

Looking closer at the worst-hit of the week, Tahera Diamond filed for protection from its creditors after a failed financing attempt, with its shares falling 46% to just 7 as investors ran for the exits.

The company was trying to raise the funds it needs for winter supplies and for maintenance at its Jericho diamond mine, in Nunavut. It is now left with a fully drawn credit facility for $50 million and another $25 million in trade debt.

Labrador Iron Mines Holdings was one of the few companies that managed any gains for the week, climbing nearly 2% to $3.63. Perhaps its freshness to the market was the reason; the junior had its initial public offering on Jan. 8. Labrador Iron Mines plans to explore for iron ore deposits in the Labrador Trough.

Ahead of its third-quarter conference call, Western Canadian Coal also managed slim gains. The company was up 0.6% to $1.60. Western Canadian produces 3.4 million tonnes of metallurgical coal from two mines in northeastern British Columbia.

TSX greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Horizns G Bear	HGD	7618	12.00	8.86	11.74	+	31.0
Teal Expl & Mg	TL	26	5.00	4.20	5.00	+	8.9
Oriel Res	ORL	316	1.15	0.97	1.05	+	5.0
Labdr Iron Mns	LIR	421	3.65	3.53	3.63	+	1.9
WGI Heavy Mnl	WG	58	0.90	0.74	0.83	+	1.2
Western C Coal	WTN	1499	1.75	1.53	1.60	+	0.6
New Gold wt	NGD_T	55	0.01	0.01	0.01	–	50.0
Tahera Diam	TAH	34104	0.14	0.06	0.07	–	48.1
Ascendant C wt	ACX_T	20	0.04	0.03	0.03	–	40.0
Freegold Vent	ITF	953	1.98	1.20	1.20	–	39.7
Laramide Res	LAM	2030	5.49	3.37	3.45	–	37.8
Timminco	TIM	15594	16.14	9.80	10.20	–	36.4
Mega Uranium	MGA	3888	2.86	1.78	1.85	–	35.7
Richmont Mines	RIC	42	3.58	2.03	2.20	–	35.2
Sprott Res	SCP	639	2.20	1.31	1.44	–	34.5
Gitennes Expl	GIT	287	0.33	0.22	0.22	–	33.3

TSX greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Horizns G Bear	HGD	7617572	11.74	+	2.78
Teal Expl & Mg	TL	25500	5.00	+	0.41
Labdr Iron Mns	LIR	420980	3.63	+	0.07
Oriel Res	ORL	316250	1.05	+	0.05
Western C Coal	WTN	1499294	1.60	+	0.01
WGI Heavy Mnl	WG	58495	0.83	+	0.01
Potash Cp Sask	POT	9964926	119.57	–	33.19
First Quantum	FM	3842883	67.35	–	16.46
Agrium	AGU	8483059	57.40	–	13.93
Inmet Mining	IMN	1967605	61.01	–	13.56
Major Drilling	MDI	939290	49.58	–	10.97
Horizns G Bull	HGU	2525640	26.54	–	8.93
Silver Std Res	SSO	1000565	31.75	–	8.45
Royal Gold	RGL	29225	26.00	–	8.00
Altius Mnrls	ALS	738841	18.25	–	7.54
Cameco Corp	CCO	12788080	32.70	–	7.33

TSX most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Yamana Gold	YRI	52191	17.23	14.25	14.30	–	2.95
Tahera Diam	TAH	34104	0.14	0.06	0.07	–	0.065
Kinross Gold	K	30283	23.90	19.26	19.66	–	4.20
Breakwater Res	BWR	28986	1.48	1.13	1.13	–	0.38
Barrick Gold	ABX	26205	53.04	45.51	46.47	–	5.90
Equinox Minls	EQN	25288	5.65	4.05	4.26	–	1.37
Uranium One	UUU	23221	9.34	6.60	6.80	–	2.51
Goldcorp	G	22818	39.10	32.99	33.02	–	5.99
Teck Comin B	TCKB	21760	34.74	28.42	28.98	–	6.27
Eastern Platin	ELR	21523	3.04	2.38	2.65	–	0.40