Trading Summary (April 23, 2003)

Toronto’s mining sector continued lower on Wednesday, but the broader S&P/TSX Composite Index to still managed a 33.95-point gain to end at 6,616.87. The gold index slid 0.35 of a point to 161.27 while the yellow metal retreated US$2.80 per oz. to end at US$330.90 per oz. in New York. The diversified miners shed 0.13 of a point to hit 120.63.

Barrick Gold ended 14 higher at $22.62 on nearly 2 million shares to rank as the TSX’s most traded mining stock. Noranda placed second volume-wise falling 30 to $12.50 with short of 1.5 million shares on the go. On Wednesday, Noranda posted a first-quarter loss of $59 million (or 27 per share) on revenue of $1.35 billion, compared with a year-ago profit of $8 million (4 a share) on $1.42 billion.

Canada’s remaining major gold producers went in opposite directions, Kinross Gold lost 6 to $9.25 on about 1.28 million shares, while Placer Dome grabbed 9 to make $14.88 on just short of 1.2 million shares.

Also seeing more than a million shares cross the floor were: Iamgold, off 35 to $6.90, and Wheaton River Minerals, down 2 pennies to $1.35.

Aside from Noranda, the base metal miners were fairly quiet. Rival Inco was closest on a volume basis, ending 13 higher at $28.26 with about 839,000 shares traded. Ivanhoe Mines finished 7 richer at $3.22. On Wednesday, Ivanhoe reported inking an exploration and production agreement with Hong Kong-based CITIC to pursue the development of copper and gold prospects in Mongolia, expansion of the Monywa copper project in Myanmar, the development of CITIC’s gold mines throughout China. The two will also look to introduce new mineral processing technologies in the region.

Canada’s junior exchange remained stuck in a narrow trading range on light volume. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 3.37 points, or 0.32% and closed at 1,043.94.

Orlean Resources caught the eye of speculators, ending the session unchanged at a penny with nearly 1 million shares traded. The inactive company suspended wollastonite production back in 2000, in order to reduce inventories. The company restarted its wollastonite plant in Lac Saint-Jean, Qubec at the beginning of 2000 after an 18-month shutdown.

Aurora Platinum added 5 to close at $2.15 on 408,050 shares traded. The junior reported that it will acquire a 50% interest in eight properties recently staked by Toronto-listed Inco near Timmins, Ontario.

Spider Resources continued to trade heavily, dropping 1 on the session to close at 13 on 455,000 shares. The junior and joint venture partner, over the counter-listed, KWG Resources recently reported more massive sulphide intercepts on their Spider #3 base metal prospect in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario. Hole 2 on the project yielded 0.53 % copper over 12.3 metres in the semi-massive sulphide zone and the massive sulphide zinc section came back 5.45% zinc over 5.35 metres.

Mag Silver, formerly Mega Capital Investments, added 11 to yesterday’s 40, or 500% gain and finished the day at 59 with 648,300 shares traded. The company filed a prospectus on March 31st and holds options to earn a 100% interest in three properties in Mexico; the Juanicipio, Don Fippi and the Guigui properties. The junior has 17.6 million shares outstanding and 1.8 million shares that are subject to escrow.