Trading Summary (April 18, 2002)

The consumer products subindex was the star of the show on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday gaining 187.6 points or 1% to hit 18,617.81 points. The oil & gas and merchandising subindices were the only others to make small gains. The golds surrendered 106.61 points or 1.7% and the base metal issues slipped 32.7 points.

Gold grabbed US$2.50 in New York to reach US$304.40 per oz., increasing trading activity in Canada’s gold miners. Kinross Gold led the pack tacking on 3 pennies to make $2.17 on more than 7.1 million shares. TVX Gold managed a 2 gain to $1.09 on 4.6 million shares.

A policeman was injured Tuesday as residents of the Greek village of Stratoniki scuffled with police during a protest over TVX’s mining operations. One protester allegedly laid down in the middle of the road to prevent vehicles from entering the company’s facilities. The man was arrested, but other protestors attacked the police.

Diamond explorer Tahera remained a busy issue climbing a penny to 40, a new 52-week high. Drilling by Kennecott on Tahera’s Anuri diamond project has significantly expanded the tonnage potential of the diamond-bearing Anuri kimberlites. The company saw 3.7 million share change hands.

Inco and Noranda were the lone base metal miners to see more than 1 million shares traded. Inco fell 18 to $33.27 while Noranda lost 2 to $19.95. Cameco was alone in black gaining a penny to $45.51.

Canada’s junior exchange remained stuck in a narrow trading range with no big news to drive the market. The Standard & Poor’s-CDNX Composite Index gained 1.06 points, or 0.1% and closed at 1,158.73.

Gallery Resources tacked on 1 to close at 12 on 611,500 shares. A gravity geophysical survey is underway on the junior’s Black Bart’s Katie massive sulphide project in central Newfoundland.

Rubicon Minerals added 15 on news of drill results from the McCuaig project, in the Red Lake gold district of northwestern Ontario. The best results came from hole 32, which yielded 75.9 grams gold per tonne over 0.7 metre from 134.1 metre downhole. Rubicon ended the day at $1.10 on 498,100 shares. Joint venture partner Golden Tag Resources jumped 19 to close at 42 on 417,000 shares.

Shares in Starfield Resources continued to move higher ahead of drill results from the Ferguson Lake copper-nickel-platinum-palladium property in Nunavut. The company ended the day up 5 to $1.05 on 695,400 shares.

Anooraq Resources jumped back to life, gaining 7 to close at 65 on 334,000 shares. The Hunter Dickinson led junior has been drilling on its Platreef platinum-palladium property in South Africa. Robert Friedland’s private company African Minerals is funding the program.

Sultan Minerals added 3 to close at 29 on 418,158 shares. The Frank Lang-led company has been advancing the Gold Mountain zone on the Kena property near Nelson, BC.