Trading Summary (March 12, 2003)

Toronto stocks ended 62.1 points lower at 6,228.63 on Wednesday with al of the subindices in the red. The gold index dropped 0.42 of a point to 151.77 and the diversified miners shed 1.64 point to settle at 121.49.

Canada’s major gold producers put in mixed performances. Kinross Gold dropped 51 to $8.48 on 4.5 million shares to rank as the busiest mining issue. Placer Dome made a dime to hit $13.40 and Barrick Gold rose 21 to $21.56.

Also on the rise was Bema Gold, which edged up a penny to $1.49 on more than 2.2 million shares. Drilling at the Monument Bay property in Manitoba has cut 180.7 grams gold over 1 metre at the recently discovered Twin Lakes West zone. So far, 12 holes have been drilled, and results for eight have been received. Bema can earn up to a 70% stake by spending $6 million on exploration over three years, paying $225,000 and issuing 150,000 shares.

GoldCorp grabbed 42 to reach $15 even. The company continues its shopping spree by picking up an 8.7% stake in Planet Exploration. Planet’s main asset is the Sidace Lake property in Ontario’s prolific Red Lake region, where recent drilling returned 2.14 grams gold per tonne over 61.7 metres.

Inco was the busiest base metal miner shedding 55 to $28.70 on just 844,466 shares. Finishing on the plus side were: Sherritt International, plus a nickel to $4.33; Breakwater Resources, a penny richer at 21; Ivanhoe Minerals, up 6 to $3.08; and LionOre Mining International, which grabbed 7 to settle at $5.42.

Canada’s junior exchange continued to fall as investors unloaded gold shares. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 10.91 points, or 1.02%, and closed at 1,061.03.

Making a nice percentage gain, Spider Resources added 3 to close at 9 on 8.6 million shares. The junior and joint venture partner KWG Resources have launched a 1,000 metre diamond drilling program on their Spider #3 base metal prospect in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario.

American Bonanza Gold Mining ended the session flat at 25 with 681,635 shares traded. The junior is currently exploring the Copperstone gold project in Arizona from underground.

IMA Explorations dropped 9 to close at 80 on 442,803 shares. Stock in the junior ran up to over $1 on news of a grassroots high-grade silver discovery in the Patagonia region of southern Argentina. The company believes that the Navidad discovery is part of a shallow subaqueous epithermal system that deposited silver enriched sulphides at or near the sea floor. IMA has identified a large mineralized system with two key features – a high-grade section measuring several hundred metres, and a lower-grade bulk tonnage target that extends for a number of kilometres.

Wolfden Resources lost 33 to close at $2 on 746,692 shares. The junior recently reported encouraging results from its Red Lake ground in Ontario, as well as the Monument Bay project in Manitoba.