Trading Summary (September 23, 2003)

Toronto stocks regained Monday’s losses plus some to end at 7, 644.04 points on Tuesday, with just the real estate subindex ending in the red. Despite a dollar drop by gold to US$385.80 per oz. in New York, the TSX gold index managed to climb 2.02 points to 205.68. The diversified miners tacked on 0.83 of a point to make 164.73.

McWatters Mining ended a penny lighter at 13 with 10.7 million shares on the go, enough to rank it the most active miner and second most active Toronto stock. Junior Canadian Zinc remained a hot issue, trading about 4.8 million shares a dime higher to 70. The company’s Prairie Creek zinc-silver project in the Northwest Territories has received permits for a metallurgical pilot plant and extension to the existing decline into the deposit.

Canada’s gold issues ended with mixed results on varied news out of the annual gold show in Denver. Barrick Gold rose 35 to $27.42 after announcing a reshuffle of its operating structure and senior management. The moves, which include the appointment of Peter Kinver as chief operating officer, are aimed at creating “sustained earnings growth.”

Goldcorp rose 77 to $19.84. The Rob McEwen-led company says it won’t bow to investor pressure to make acquisitions. Investors worry that the company relies too much on its Red Lake mine in northwestern Ontario. Goldcorp plans to drop a second shaft there next January.

Glamis Gold shed 3 pennies to $19.02. The company said on Tuesday it will miss its 2003 gold output prediction of 250,000 oz. by about 5% thanks to gold recoveries problems at its San Martin mine in Honduras.

Canada’s remaining major gold producers went in opposite directions. Placer Dome climbed a quarter to $19.57, while Kinross Gold fell 6 to $10.73.

A few rungs down the ladder, Southwestern Resources put in a plus-6% gain climbing $1.05 to $18.15 after a reporting assay results from rock chip sampling on the Queschca prospect on the Liam property in Peru. The results outline a several new gold-silver zones. Assay results from a second round of 6 holes on the Cerro Crespo zone are pending.

Ivanhoe Mines was the most traded base metal miner, dropping a dime to $$7.85, after reporting that the latest batch of drill results from the Turquoise Hill copper-gold project have enhanced the prospects for mining the massive orebody that lies deep underneath the South Gobi desert in Mongolia.

Zinc miner Breakwater Resources continued its recent climb, advancing another 3, or 8%, to 40.5.