Trading Summary (January 29, 2004)

Hints that the U.S. Federal Reserve might waver on its previous statement of keeping interest rates low for a “considerable period” sent the U.S. dollar higher and pushed gold below the US$400 mark on Thursday. The yellow metal ended the day US$16.60 lower at US$398 per oz. in New York. Accordingly, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s gold index shed 5.62 points or 2.7%, to end at 199.51. The diversified miners didn’t fare any better slipping 2.6% to 209.14. Overall, the S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 86.35 to 8,449.36.

Wheaton River Minerals was the busiest of Canada’s falling gold stocks with more than 7.4 million shares making their way 10 lower to $3.45. Two of the bigger losers on the gold scene were Aurizon Mines, off 19, or 11%, at $1.54, and Southwestern Resources, which shed $3.37, or more than 10%, to $29.53. Southwestern recently paid US$1.7 million to convince a Chinese-based company to cease mining at its Boka project, thus allowing Southwestern to accelerate its drilling campaign.

Teck Cominco‘s B series of shares fell 58 to $19.52. Employees at the company’s 64%-owned Highland Valley Copper mine in B.C. recently ratified a new three-year labour deal. The company has also announced that it will increase to 97.5% its stake in the mine by buying BHP Billiton’s 33.57% stake for US$73 million.

Shares in Cameco stood out on the diversified miners index gaining 45 to make $59.45. On Thursday, Bruce Power, in which Cameco has a 31.6% stake, said it was looking at restarting its Bruce A units 1 and 2 and might consider building one or more new reactors. The group will also consider refurbishing its four Bruce B reactors. Bruce’s A units 3 and 4 were recently brought back online and feed enough power to Ontario’s grid to power 500,000 homes.

Falconbridge represented the rest with a $1.20 drop to $32.35. On Thursday, Reuters reported that the union representing workers at the company’s Sudbury, Ontario, nickel-mining operation said the company’s latest contract offer falls well short. The existing contract expires on Jan. 31.

Investors sold off gold related issues as bullion dipped under the US$400 mark. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index closed at 1779.77, down 24.37 points, or 1.35% with 72.8 million shares traded.

ECU Silver Mining closed the day at 28.5, down 1.5 with 1.4 million shares traded. The company announced that it has entered into a private placement financing worth $999,000. ECU has issued a total of 4.9 million units at a price of 20 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share at a price of 26 for a period of two years. The money will be used to pay for exploration drilling at the Santa Juana mine, as well as for general production costs in Mexico.

IBI closed at 5, down half a penny on $1.02 million shares. The company owns and operates a vermiculite mine in Uganda, West Africa.

Eurasia Gold closed down half a penny to 12.5, with 3.5 million shares traded. Thistle Mining’s subsidiary, Compagnie Internationale de Developpement Minier, holds a total of 68 million common shares, or 57.7% of Eurasia. The company reports that the shares were acquired for investment purposes.