Trading Summary (May 01, 2003)

Toronto’s gold index enjoyed a US$2.90-per-oz. rise in the price of gold in New York on Thursday, gaining 4.01 points or 2.6% itself to end at 159.38. The yellow metal ended the day at US$341.60 per oz. The diversified miners couldn’t keep pace, falling 0.43 of a point to 119.01. In the end, the S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 16.76 points to 6,569.31.

NovaGold Resourcesand Viceroy Resource went separate ways despite tabling plans to join forces in Canada’s west. On Thursday, the pair announced plans to beget a new exploration vehicle, SpectrumGold, which will focus on exploration in the Western Canadian Cordillera. The new entity will be shared equally and will hold all of NovaGold’s Yukon exploration properties and Viceroy Yukon and British Columbia mineral assets. Viceroy plans to shunt 31% of its SpectrumGold shares to its current shareholders. NovaGold will act as manager. NovaGold’s shares dipped 15 to $3.70 on thin volume; Viceroy gained a nickel or nearly 10% to make 57.

Canada’s major gold producers put i9n modest gains. Barrick Gold was the busiest of the bunch, advancing 29 to $22.08 on 3.1 million shares, Placer Dome rose 34 to $14.69, and Kinross Gold ended 28 higher at $9.13. Both saw just short of 2 million shares change hands.

Inco was the most traded of a quiet bunch of base metal miners. The nickel miner dropped 8 to $26.16 on just more than 783,000 shares. Sherritt International fell 19 to $4.15. The company posted higher first-quarter earnings on Thursday thanks to higher oil prices and a gain on the transfer of coal assets for units in the new Fording Canadian Coal Trust. Sherritt earned $34.7 million (or 21 per share) on revenue of $207.5 million, compared with year-ago earnings of $22.4 million (17 a share) on $184.2 million.

Shares in junior diamond explorer Rex Diamond shot up 20 or nearly 27% to 95. In a press release on Thursday, Rex said, "at this time there are no undisclosed developments which are pending."

Canada’s junior exchange made advances for the third straight day with advancers edging out decliners by a 286-to-262 margin. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index gained 7.15 points, or 0.68% and closed at 1,051.39.

RJK Explorations gained 2 after reporting that R.J. Kasner Co. Ltd., a shareholder sold 800,000 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares at a price of 17 per share. The proceeds from the sale will be used to complete a private placement of up to 800,000 units at a price of 17 per unit. The junior has been working the Wedge property in the Matawin gold belt near Shebandowan, Ontario. Hole 1 returned 5.89 grams gold over 3.03 metres. The company ended the session at 22 on 805,000 shares traded.

Shares in Spider Resources continued to trade at a hectic pace. The junior recently reported drill results from the Spider #3 massive sulphide project in the James Bay Lowlands of Ontario. Hole 6 drilled below the previously reported massive sulphides in the first two holes intersecting 2.9% Copper and 0.45% zinc over 5.6 metres and a deeper zinc-rich section running 5.4% zinc and 0.3% copper over 9.65 metres. Holes 3 and 4 were drilled 100 metres to the northeast with hole 3 yielding 5.25% zinc and 0.58% copper over 3.95 metres. Hole 4 testing the down dip continuation of the mineralization intersecting 2.41% zinc and 0.495% copper over 8.7 metres. Spider ended the day down a penny at 12 on 808,000 shares.

Investors continued to bid up shares in New Shoshoni Ventures. Stock in the junior added 12 to close at 73 on 442,750 shares traded. The company has sent in one hole of a recently completed 3-hole program over the DB-2 kimberlite near the Drybones Bay kimberlite in the Northwest Territories for analysis.