Trading Summary (June 26, 2002)

A new US$4-billion accounting scandal unearthed at long-distance carrier WorldCom sent Toronto stocks lower on Wednesday. The golds, typically seen as a safe haven by investors, dropped 3.57 points or 1.7%. The base metal issues dropped 0.42 of a point to hit 140.93. The consumers staples and utilities sectors were alone in the black, but just barely. The S&P/TSX Composite Index trudged through the day in the red and ended there, off 99.82 points or 1.4% at 7,020.98 points.

TVX Gold was the nation’s busiest miner grabbing 7 to make $2.45 on a trading volume of more than 9.7 million shares. Kinross Gold added 18 to hit $3.88 with 8.6 million shares traded. The other three-way merger partner echo Bay Mines tacked on 7 to reach $1.94.

The country’s other gold majors didn’t fare as well. Barrick Gold dropped 58 to settle at $30.72 and Placer Dome shed 59 to end at $18.51. Placer’s bid for Aussie gold miner AurionGold was formally rejected in the company’s target statement on Wednesday.

Meridian Gold fell 97 to settle at $25.32. On Wednesday, Meridian extended its offer for shares of London-listed Brancote Holdings. Fellow mid-tier miner GoldCorp lost 22 to $16.63.

Inco was the most traded of the base metal issues sliding 74 or 2.2% to 32.40 on more than 1.1 million shares. The nickel miner recently got the go-ahead from aboriginal groups for its Voisey’s Bay project in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Other losers were Falconbridge, off 18 to 19.15, Sherritt International, 8 lower at $5.67, and Noranda, minus 17 to $18.95. Teck Cominco’s B series managed to tack on a penny to land at $13.21 and Cameco grabbed $1.68 to tally to $38.40. Cameco recently agreed to buy the Smith Ranch in situ leach mine and various other ISL properties in Wyoming from BHP Billiton subsidiary, Rio Algom.

Canada’s junior exchange faced a barrage of sell orders at the open and ended the session deep in the red. The Standard & Poor’s-TSX Venture composite index lost 15.82 points, or 1.3%, to finish at 1168.45.

American Bonanza Gold Mining ended the day flat at 20 on a heavy 1.6 million shares. The junior recently raised $2 million by issuing 15.4 million units at 13 each. The funds will be used to advance the Copperstone gold project in Arizona, which hosts an estimated total resource of 2.1 million tons grading 0.58-oz gold per ton.

Vannessa Ventures dropped 15 to close at 85 on 234,000 shares. The junior is embroiled in a legal battle over the Las Cristinas gold property in Venezuela and was caught flat footed earlier this month when the Costa Rican government announced plans to ban open pit mining and the use of cyanide. Vannessa holds the advanced Crucitas gold property in Costa Rica and at last report feels confident that it can work with the Government of Costa Rica to build an operation which will fully address the country’s two major concerns: forest and the use of cyanide.

Shares in Pillar Resources lost 5 to close at 50 on a volume of nearly 1.1 million. The junior is working the Marimba property in Guatemala. The property hosts several gold zones occurring in calcareous sedimentary rocks. Giving back some of its recent gains, Pacific Minerals fell 15 to close at $1.20 on 324,494 shares. The junior recently announced that Toronto-listed Ivanhoe Mines will invest US$3 million into the junior, by way of a private placement. A total of US$2 million of the financing will be used to advance the JBS platinum-palladium and 217 gold projects in China.