Trading Summary (February 15, 2002)

The Toronto Stock Exchange ended the week with a 11.09-point drop to 7,515.3 on Friday. The golds suffered some profit taking sliding 145.17 points or 2.3% to 6,078.98. The base metal sector went the other way tacking on 52.85 or 1.2% to 4,578.63, the best percentage performer on the day.

TVX Gold took over as the nation’s busiest miner adding 6 to make $1.15 on a trading volume of 8.9 million shares. On Friday the company announced that the Greek government has granted it a permit to resume mining at the Petres mine, part of its Statoni operation.

Barrick Gold fell 55 to $29.35 after posting a fourth-quarter net loss of US$94 million or 17 per share, thanks to a US$117-million charge related to its takeover of Homestake Mining coupled with a US$59-million provision related to the court ruling over the sale of the Troilus gold mine in Quebec.

Also near the top of the TSE list were Kinross Gold, off a nickel to $1.64 and Placer Dome, 97 lighter at $19.83. On Friday, Placer announced fourth-quarter net income of US$29 million (or 9 per share), compared with a year-ago loss of US$89 million (27 per share). The latest fourth quarter includes a $212 million writedown off the carrying value of the Getchell mine in Nevada.

Noranda was the most traded base metal issue. The issues climbed 11 to $16.75 on just fewer than 2 million shares. Teck Cominco gained 22 to $14.18 on 1.7 million shares. Teck Cominco said on Friday that in response to an oversupply of zinc on the world market it plans on trimming production by 55,000 tonnes in 2002.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the week in lack lustre fashion with advancers leading decliners by a 209-to-196 margin. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index lost 0.40 of a point to close at 1140.61.

Andean American Mining gained 9 to close at 75 on 399,745 shares. The company is trying to iron out production problems related to the occurrence of clays at its small scale Santa Rosa gold operation in southern Peru.

Dianor Resources topped the most actively traded chart among junior explorers, dropping 1 to end the week at 30 on 422,032 shares. The junior announce that it has entered into a partnership agreement with Wemindji Exploration, a company owned by the Cree Nation community of Wemindji regarding its diamond property interest located in the James Bay area of Quebec.

Spider resources ended the day down 1 to 7 on 351,600 shares. The company holds a 49% stake in the Spider 1 diamond project in the James Bay lowlands of northern Ontario.

Starfield Resources extended its losing streak, losing 6 to close at 95 on a volume of 326,107. 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.

Samex Mining continued to attract traders ending the day up 1 to 18 on 343,800 shares. The junior has been seeking a joint venture partner or financing for the Eskapa Core zone in Chile.