Trading Summary (March 20, 2002)

The gold stocks led the five advancing subindices on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday, with a 54.53-point gain to 5,865.62. The base metal issues went the other way falling 33.06 points to 4,720.61. Overall, the TSE 300 composite index fell 21.48 points to end at 7,915.4.

Kinross Gold was the TSE’s most traded miner gaining 3 to $1.72 on more than 1.8 million shares. Diamond explorer Tahera finished in the top ten with more than 1.5 million shares crossing the floor to a 1.5 gain to 32.5.

Tahera and Kennecott Canada Exploration plan a program of ground geophysics and drilling on the Jericho Claims in Nunavut, about 315 km northeast of Yellowknife. Drilling is slated for April. The program will focus around the Jericho pipe and Bird Lake and Contwoyto areas, where several kimberlite indicator mineral trains have been identified. At least $1 million has been budgeted.

Other active gold miners were Placer Dome, plus 29 to $18.25, TVX Gold, which was unchanged at 95 with nearly 1.2 million shares traded, and Barrick Gold, off a penny at $28.53 on a volume of just fewer than 1.2 million shares. In the lower ranks, Viceroy Resources slipped 1.5 or 7.7% to 18 after announcing that it had converted early about 4 million preferred shares owned by LionOre Mining International. LionOre shares finished unchanged at $3.40.

The base metal miners were awash in red with modest losses. Inco dropped a penny to $31.09; Falconbridge shed a dime to $17.40; Sherritt International fell 15 to $4.80; Noranda slid 24 to $17.71 and Teck Cominco’s B class lost 17 to $14.88.

The S&P-CDNX Composite Index couldn’t tack on another day of gains falling 5.2 points to finish at 1,153.1.

American Bonanza Gold Mining stood atop the pile soaring 3 or 27.3% to 14 with 880,000 shares changing hands. Recently, Denver-based Royal Gold inked a US$1.7-million deal to get a 3% net smelter royalty from the junior’s wholly owned Copperstone gold project in Arizona. Also included in the agreement is a 45% net profits royalty interest on the proceeds from a high-grade bulk sample program proposed for this year. American Bonanza ended the day at 13, up 1 on 1.62 million shares.

Spider Resources saw 641,700 shares traded on its way to a penny drop to 9. The junior recently announced the recovery of 8 macrodiamonds from a second mini-bulk sample collected from its Wawa property in northern Ontario.

Diagem International Resource jumped 4 or more than 19% to 25. On Wednesday, the company completed a $1.75-million private placement financing removing the final hurdle in the path of completing its merger with fellow junior Emerging Africa Gold. For their part, EAG shares soared 6 or 32% to 25.