Trading Summary (February 08, 2002)

All but two of the Toronto Stock Exchange‘s fourteen subindices ended the week with a mini recovery on Friday. The communications sector and the utilities group finished with losses. The golds and technology stocks led the pack with 1.5% gains. The base metal issues tacked on just less than 1%. Overall, the TSE 300 composite index gained 51.97 points to end a mostly down week at 7,535.4.

Gold continued its rise in New York adding another US$3.40 to reach US$303.20 per oz. Silver grabbed US11 to make US$4.45 per oz., and platinum rose US$7 to US$474 per oz. Palladium was off US$1 at US$370.

TVX Gold was the busiest mining stock, and the TSE’s second most active overall, gaining 8 to $1.04 on more than 18 million shares. On Thursday, TVX announced that the Greek government’s decision regarding whether or not mining can resume at the company’s on-again-off-again Stratoni zinc-lead-silver operation in northern Greece, will be delayed by a week. A committee of six independent professors recently told the Greek government that TVX’s proposed mining method at the project is sound.

Other gold miners making the TSE’s top ten list were: Kinross Gold, up a penny to $1.76 on about 8 million shares; Barrick Gold, 47 higher at $30.42; Franco-Nevada Mining, plus $1.20 to $32 even; and Placer Dome, which shed a quarter to $21.10.

On the diamond watch, Ashton Mining of Canada slipped 3.5or 14.3% to 21 and Pure Gold Minerals plummeted 87 or about 24% to $2.85. On Friday, the two reported results from a 1,157-kg sample from the newly discovered Artemisia kimberlite pipe in Nunavut.

The base metal producers were much quieter, with Sherritt International seeing the most action dropping 7 to $4.35 with just more than 1.4 million shares traded. Teck Cominco’s B series suffered a similar fate slipping a quarter to $13.45 on less than a third as many shares. On the plus side were: Inco, up 38 to $27.93; Falconbridge, a nickel higher at $16.05; Noranda plus 32 to $15.73; and Boliden, which gained 5 to $6.65. Cameco tacked on $2.89 to hit $45.15.

Noranda posted a fourth-quarter loss on Friday after taking $71 million in restructuring charges. The loss piled up to $84 million (or 37 per share), compared with year-ago earnings of $71 (27 per share). For all of 2001, the loss came to $92 million (47 per share), compared with a profit of $293 million ($1.14 per share) in 2000.

Aluminum goliath Alcan rose 34 to $59.74 after it said on Friday that it had agreed to pay $165 million for the Societe generale de financement du Quebec’s 20% stake the Alouette smelter in Quebec and confirmed it had filed a lawsuit regarding its ownership rights in the Norf aluminum rolling mill in Germany.

Canada’s junior exchange managed to end the week by posting a slight loss. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index dropped 0.58 point, or 0.1% to close at 1141.48.

American bonanza Gold Mining topped the most actively traded chart among junior explorers, adding 3 to close at 8 on 1.45 million shares. The cash-strapped company has been trying to advance the Copperstone gold property in Arizona.

Strongbow Resources lost 6 to close at 20 on 1.15 million shares. The junior recently inked deals to earn an 85% interest in the JR diamond claims in the Coronation Gulf area of Nunavut.

TNR Resources gained 1 to 12 on 755,000 shares. The company is working the La Ortiga gold project in Argentina. So far five distinct target areas have been identified.

Shares in National Gold edged higher, adding 5 to close at 38 on a volume of 423,000. 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 at 43, up 4 on 55,100 shares.

Vannessa Ventures gave back some of yesterday’s stellar gains, losing 6 to close at $1.84 on 366,700 shares. The junior recently obtained an exploitation permit for it’s 100% owned Crucitas gold project in Costa Rica.