Trading Summary (July 12, 2004)

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s telecom and utilities sectors were alone in black at the end of Monday’s trading session; overall, the S&P-TSX Composite Index ended off 50.95 points at 8,422.23. The golds chipped in a 0.57-of-a-point loss to 207.6, while the diversified miners slipped 1.91 points to 223.97.

Wheaton River Minerals and Iamgold continued to trade heavily after their failed marriage attempt. Wheaton led the TSX with more than 8.7 million shares falling 2 to $3.93, Iamgold gained 2 pennies to end at $8.74. Both companies continue to snub their U.S.-based suitors. Golden Star Resources, which is after Iamgold, slipped 3 to $6.64. Idaho-based Coeur d’Alene Mines is preparing to take its offer directly to Wheaton’s North American investors.

Shares in diamond miner Diamond Fields International rose a penny to 81. On Monday, DFI said that it has sold 7,126.92 carats for an average of US$239.16 per carat — a per-carat record for stone’s from the company’s marine concessions, and a far cry better than the US$143-per-carat average for 2003. The latest sale included a 5.26-carat diamond that fetched a company record US$10,457 per carat, for a total of US$55,009.

Shares in Barrick Gold and Ivanhoe Mines went in opposite directions; Barrick fell a penny to $27.64, while Ivanhoe ended 7 to the good at $6.64. Barrick recently decided against taking a stake in Ivanhoe’s Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia. The gold major said the deposit failed to meet its investment criteria.

Rounding out the major gold producers, Placer Dome advanced 6 to make $22.91, while Kinross Gold added 32 to reach $8.05. Placer recently confirmed that it received a notice of default regarding financing obligations under a shareholders’ agreement with Bema Gold and Vancouver-listed Arizona Star Resource at the Cerro Casale gold-copper project in Chile. Placer plans talks with its partners over the coming weeks. The juniors have threatened arbitration aimed at revoking Placer’s 51% stake in the project asserting that the major has failed to use reasonable efforts to establish whether financing can be found for the project. Bema retreated 6 to $3.58.

Better percentage gainers on the day were Zaruma Resources, up 4, or 19%, to A quarter, Sulliden Exploration, plus 19, or about 13%, to $1.67, GLR Resources, 5.5, or 15.1%, better at 42, and General Minerals, which gained 20, or 15.4%, to hit $1.50.