Trading Summary (February 07, 2002)

The golds regained their shine on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday taking back most of the ground lost on Wednesday. The Gold & Precious Minerals subindex rose 205.39 points or 3.4% to 6,217.96. The base metal issues resumed their slide falling 43.83 to 4,315.76 points. The Utilities subindex gained 1.3% to rank as just one of five subindices to make gains on the day. Overall, the TSE 300 composite index slid 13.66 point to finish at 7483.4.

Gold tacked on US$2.40 to come in at US$299.80 per oz. in New York. Platinum, gained US$11 to US$467 per oz. The base metals were lower across the board on the London Metal Exchange.

Caussa Capital was the busiest mining-0relate stock with about 6.5 million shares changing hands. The issue soared 2 or 133% to 3.5.

On Thursday, Caussa announced that it has secured an option to earn a 100% interest in the Churchill gold property in the Shining Tree area of Northern Ontario. The property hosts two gold occurrences discovered by local prospectors in 2001. Gold mineralization occurs in two perpendicular structures – the H-G and Scheelite zones. Six grab samples taken along the 350-metre strike length of the H-G zone returned between 2 and 39 grams gold per tonne. Grab samples from the 200-metre-long Scheelite zone yielded from less than 1 gram up to 3.3 grams gold, plus low but significant tungsten values. Caussa plans to gear up an exploration program in the spring.

Kinross Gold saw about 2.3 million fewer share traded on the way to a 3 rise to $1.75. Earlier this week, Kinross said it would write down its investment in Zimbabwe’s Blanket gold mine by $11.8 million in the 2001 fourth quarter due to political and economic strife in the southern African nation. Kinross say the writedown is really a result of the fixed rate currency it is forced to live with. The Zimbabwe dollar is officially fixed at Z$55 to the US dollar. On the street it ranges between Z$250 and Z$300 to dollar. Blanket’s 2002 gold production is pegged at 39,000 oz., down from previous estimates of 47,000 oz., but up from 2000 levels.

TVX Gold managed a nickel gain to 96 with about 1.2 million shares on the go. On Thursday, TVX said a decision on a mining permit for its on-again-off-again Stratoni zinc-lead-silver operation in northern Greece, has been delayed by week. The Greek government wants to allow time for a meeting with local leaders, representatives of the employees, and local citizens.

Canada’s other major gold miners put in decent gains. Barrick Gold grabbed $1.07 to $29.95; Placer Dome added $1.30 to hit $21.35.

The base metal issues were mixed. On the plus side were: Sherritt International, up 12 to $4.42; Teck Cominco’s B shares, 20 higher at $13.70; and Swedish miner Boliden, which gained a dime to $6.60. Headed south were: Inco, off 69 to $27.55; Falconbridge, which slid 28 to $16; Noranda, 14 lighter at $15.41; and aluminum giant Alcan dropped 70 to $59.40.

Uranium producer Cameco fell 9 to $42.26 after posting fourth quarter net earnings of $28 million (50 per share), compared with year-ago earnings of $14 million (26 per share) before special items. The increase is owing mostly to a higher realized price for uranium concentrates and increased volumes for both concentrates and conversion services.

A late-day buying binged propelled Canada’s junior exchange higher. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index gained 4.64 points, or 0.4% to close at 1142.06.

Shares in National Gold added 4 to close at 34 on a volume of 1.4 million. The Albert Matter-led company is in the midst of a $600,000 financing and its joint venture partner Alamos Minerals is drilling the Salamandra gold property in Mexico. Shares of Alamos ended the day flat at 40 on light volume.

ECU Silver Mining ended the day unchanged at 2 on 835,000 shares. The company holds the Velardena mine property in Mexico where total resources are pegged at 2.5 million tonnes grading 2.8 grams gold and 269 grams silver per tonne.

Riding the surging gold price, Vannessa Ventures gained 42 to close at $1.83 on 438,800 shares. The junior recently obtained an exploitation permit for it’s 100% owned Crucitas gold project in Costa Rica.

Starfield Resources dropped 1 at $1.07 on 358,000 shares. The company has hired a financial advising house to determine options for its Ferguson Lake copper-nickel-platinum-palladium project in Nunavut. Drilling on the project is expected to resume shortly.

GMD Resource ended the session unchanged at 21 on 116,000 shares. The company holds a stake in the Royce group diamond claims, in the Northwest Territories. The property lies 260 km southwest of the Ekati diamond mine.