Trading Summary (May 20, 2003)

The Toronto market crawled back from an initial drop on Tuesday, with the TSX Composite index finishing at 6,732.11 points, down 9.92 from the previous close on Friday. The big winner on the day was the gold group, as the TSX Gold index rose 6.42 points to 165.16, a gain of 4% on the day.

Gold bullion itself touched US$370 in trading on the New York markets, up from a London afternoon fix of US$366.30 per oz. By the close of trading on the Comex it had settled back just below US$366.

The only declining stock in the TSX gold group was Eldorado Gold, which fell 16 to finish the day at $2.06. The company announced it was scaling back planned production from its Sao Bento mine in Brazil this year, in response to the increasing value of the Brazilian real.

Other gold stocks responded to Monday’s jump in the gold price, with Barrick Gold up $1.13 at $24.78, Placer Dome up 41 at $14.91, and Kinross Gold up 55 at $9.07.

Among the mid-tier producers, Iamgold rose 56 to $7.50 for a gain of 8% on the day, while Goldcorp was up 79 to $15.79. Off the index, Wheaton River Minerals was 11 higher at $1.35, a gain of almost 9%, on a volume of just over 7 million shares.

The TSX Metals and Mining index was down 1.08 points to 117.28. Falconbridge had the worst day, falling 67 to $15.80. The company filed a shelf registration in the United States permitting it to sell debt securities to a value of US$150 million in the United States.

It was also a tough day for LionOre Mining International, which fell 18 to $5.55, and for Teck Cominco, whose B shares were off 17 to $10.20.

The best upward move was from Sherritt International, which rose 4 to $4.09. The company completed a share issue for gross proceeds of $100 million.

Manhattan Minerals was up a penny at 69, despite reports over the weekend that initial government reviews of its environmental impact assessment for the Tambogrande project in northwestern Peru were unfavorable.

Canada’s junior exchange started the trading week by continuing its march higher led by energy-related stocks. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index gained 4.31 points, or 0.4% and closed at 1,078.96.

Donner Minerals tacked on 1 to close at 20 on 959,200 shares traded. A 2,200 line km MegaTEM geophysical survey has begun on the eastern half of the South Voisey Bay nickel sulphide project. Toronto-listed Falconbridge is carrying out the 2003 program. The major can earn a 50% interest in the project by spending $23 million on exploration over a five-year period. Falconbridge had spent approximately $2.3 million by the end of 2002 and is required to spend an additional $1.7 million in 2003 to maintain its option. There are four ownership blocks in the project: Donner’s wholly- owned SVBN property; the Donner/Northern Abitibi joint venture property; the Donner/Commander joint venture property; and the SVBN/Palladium Minerals joint venture property.

A rising gold price helped American Bonanza Gold Mining gain 3 to close at 29 on 819,754 shares traded. The junior recently began exploration over the Gold Bar property in the Battle Mountain – Eureka mineral trend in central Nevada. The junior is also in the midst of underground exploration at its Copperstone gold property in Arizona.

Shares in Spider Resources appear to have found a bottom, ending the session unchanged at 10 on 1.27 million shares. Stock in the junior has traded heavily since the release of the latest 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 holds a 47.66% interest in the ground with KWG Resources having the remaining 52.34%. KWG ended the day at 13, flat on the day with 300,150 shares traded.