Trading Summary (September 19, 2003)

Toronto’s mining sector helped the Toronto Stock Exchange to end the week in the black on Friday. The gold index rose 3.43 points, or 1.75%, to 199.42, while the base metal miners added 2.36 points, or 1.4%, to 165.78. Overall, the TSX edged 1.62 points higher to 7,602.21.

Kinross Gold was most traded miner, and the TSX’s second most traded overall, with just more than 10 million shares making their way 33 higher to $10.63. Its peers finished on the plus side, but a bit off the pace. Placer Dome climbed 48 to $19.03 on 4.35 million shares and Barrick Gold advanced 29 to $26.89 on about 3.7 million shares.

Cambior was next volume-wise, adding 13 to hit $4.03 with 7.3 million shares changing hands. Cambior joined the S&P/TSX composite index and the S&P/TSX SmallCap, Capped Materials and Capped Gold subindices at the end of Friday’s trading session.

The miners also put in some nice percentage gains. Jonpol Explorations jumped a nickel, or 25%, to a quarter. The company recently laid plans to raise up to $2.5 million via a brokered private placement of up to 50 million shares. The company is also awaiting assay results from some old core found on its Goodchild Lake property in northeastern Ontario.

Other were Black Hawk Mining, up 17.4% to 27, McWatters Mining 11.1% higher at 15, Rio Narcea Gold Mines, which rose 8.3% to $3.14, Ivanhoe Mines, plus 7.6% to $7.68, and Northern Orion Resources, up 6.8% to $2.19.

After Ivanhoe, Inco was the busiest base metal miner, with 1.95 million shares venturing 60 higher to $38.46.

Canada’s junior ended the trading week on a high note with advancing issues out pacing declining stocks by a 450-to-337 margin. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index gained 9.99 points, or 0.73%, and closed at 1,384.

A rising bullion price propelled American Bonanza Gold Mines to a new 52-week high. Shares in the junior shot up 3 before settling down to close at 37, up half a penny on a volume of nearly 1.5 million. The company plans on mobilizing a second underground core drilling rig and a surface rig to its Copperstone gold project in Arizona. Work is also slated to resume on the junior’s Gold Bar property located in the Battle Mountain-Eureka mineral belt in central Nevada.

Making a nice percentage move, Rockwell Ventures added 3 to close at 9.5 on 1.3 million shares traded. The Hunter Dickinson-led company has been evaluating new projects.

Ontzinc added 6 to close at 26 on nearly 1.4 million shares traded. Back in August, the company announced that St. Lawrence Zinc, a corporation related to OntZinc, has received the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to buy the Balmat mine from ZCA Mines for US$20 million. The purchase price shall be payable out of net cash flow from operations. The junior is currently in the midst of a $1.1 million financing comprising 10 million units priced at $0.11 per unit. Each unit holds one share and one warrant, which is exercisable at $0.14 for 2 years.