Trading Summary (February 14, 2002)

The golds regained their position ahead of the Toronto Stock Exchange‘s thirteen other subindices on Thursday posting a 1.8% gain to 6,224.14. The base metal issues managed to scrape up 10.26 points to end at 4,539.52. The tech stocks suffered the greatest loss falling 2.4% to 3,509.11. Overall, the TSE lost 33.78 points to 7,527.6.

Getting comfortable there, Kinross Gold headed the list of most actively traded miners. The issue gained 8 to $1.70 with more than 7.3 million shares traded. Late on Wednesday, Kinross reported a smaller-than-expected, fourth-quarter net loss of US$17.3 million (or 6 per share), down from the year-ago loss of US$93.2 million (32 2 per share). The latest quarter’s loss included a US$16.1-million writedown, with US$11.8 million related to its Blanket mine in Zimbabwe. Gold production for the quarter was 238,244 oz. at total cash costs of US$200 each, compared with the 254,626 oz. at US$181 apiece the previous year.

Right behind was TVX Gold, which added 6 to hit $1.11. Trading volume was about 6.5 million shares. Barrick Gold finished just out of the top ten with about 2.2 million shares crossing the floor for a 53 gain to $30.05.

Most of the other gold majors put in small gains. Placer Dome rose 35 to $20.70 and Franco-Nevada climbed $1.10 to $31.60. In the lower ranks, NovaGold Resources put in a fourth straight day of gains rising 38 or 10% to $4.15. Earlier this year, the company announced the doubling of the resource estimate for its Donlin Creek deposit in Alaska. NovaGold can earn a 70% interest in the deposit by spending US$10 million on exploration and development within 10 years. The company plans to fast track the spending and complete a feasibility study by the end of the year.

The nation’s busiest base metal miner was Aur Resources, which tacked on a dime to reach $3.97 on more than 1.4 million shares. On Wednesday, Aur posted fourth-quarter net earnings were US$5.4 million (or 5 per share), compared with a year-ago loss US$17.9 million (23 per share). For all of 2001, net earnings hit a record US$21.4 million (22 2 per share), compared with a loss of US$14.0 million (18 per share) in 2000.

Other seeing more than 1 million shares changing hands were Alcan, up a nickel to $62.30; Inco, off 15 to $29.65; and Noranda, 31 2 higher at $16.64.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the day virtually unchanged with decliners leading advancers by a 204-to-190 margin. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index gained 0.12 of a point to close at 1141.01.

Spider resources ended the day down 1 to 7 on 607,000 shares. The company holds a 49% stake in the Spider 1 diamond project in the James Bay lowlands of northern Ontario.

Dynacor Mines added 2 to 34 on 493,800 shares. The junior recently received encouraging sample results from its newly acquired Tumipampa gold-copper project in Peru. So far, fieldwork identified several hydrothermal gold-bearing veins intersecting several sedimentary formations that are in contact with a porphyritic granodioritic intrusive rock. The company can earn a 60% stake in the property by spending US$1.3 million over 5 years

Shares in Starfield Resources fell hard for a second straight day, dropping 4 to close at 91 on a volume of 293,634. The company recently retained Warrior, a division of Standard Bank of London to provide corporate finance and strategic advice for the Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-platinum-palladium project in Nunavut.

Making a nice percentage move, Holmer Gold Mines gained 7 to close at 21 on 412,500 shares. The junior is aiming to advance its 50%-owned Loma Hierro silver mine project in Cuba.