MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — EASTERN MARKETS — TSE rises as gold producers suffer second auction

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 index rose 79.59 points during the report period Sept. 8-14, ending at 7,138.09.

Resource stocks were mixed, with base metal miners gaining ground and gold producers losing some. The metals and minerals sub-group closed up 51.55 points higher at 4,1884.40, as the gold and precious metals sub-index dropped a mild 17.94 points to 5,110.27.

Despite Britain’s upcoming gold auction (the second of five), the yellow metal climbed US$1.40 to land at a London fix of US$257.40 per oz. on the morning of Sept. 15. In May, Britain announced its intention to sell, in stages, 125 tonnes of the country’s 715-tonne gold stockpile during fiscal 1999-2000.

Major producers Barrick Gold and Placer Dome each saw their market value clipped, with the former falling 65 cents to $27.80 and the latter, 35 cents to $14.90. Placer announced, at the end of the period, that J.K. Taylor had replaced John Willson as its president and that he will soon take over his position as chief executive officer. Producers who made gains include: Kinross Gold, up 5 cents to $3.10; Euro-Nevada Mining, up $1.20 to $19.50; Franco-Nevada Mining, up 75 cents to $24.55; and TVX Gold, up 3 cents to $1.21.

Greenstone Resources was the most active junior miner, falling 5 cents to 9 cents on 3.9 million shares traded. In a close second, Eldorado Gold climbed 13 cents to 89 cents. That company recently stepped up the pace of drilling at its Kisladag porphyry-gold project in Turkey, following the receipt of impressive results in August.

Among diamond stocks, Mountain Province Mining climbed 28 cents to $2.43 on news of a kimberlite discovery on Baffin Island, and on results of bulk sampling at the Tuzo and Hearne kimberlite pipes on the company’s AK/CJ property. Similarly good news from the Luderitz marine concession in Namibia pumped up Diamond Fields International to $2.65, for a gain of 40 cents.

Nickel sunk 26 cents to end the period at US$3.03 per lb., making it the top story among base metals. The metal’s latest woes came on rumours that Inco had possibly sidestepped a labour strike at its Manitoba operations. The reports helped make Inco the most active trader during the period, pushing it $2.20 higher to $34.05. Cross-town rival Falconbridge also posted gains, rising 10 cents to $24.50.

Montreal-listed Sulliden Exploration recorded a new 12-month high on news that it had discovered epithermal-style mineralization 3 km south of the Pierina mine of Barrick Gold, on its Santo Toribio property in Peru. With surface samples reporting up to 17.1 grams gold and 1,755.2 grams silver per tonne, the company jumped 70 cents to $1.10, making it the highest-percentage gainer in the eastern markets.