Trading Summary (August 12, 2002)

Toronto stocks opened the week lower and stayed there on Monday as profit-takers lived up to their name. The golds led the market early in the day, but finished in the red to the tune of 1.07 point or 0.62% at 172.29 points. The base metal issues started off wee, but took a bigger fall finishing at 116.83 points, off 2.22 points or 1.9%. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended the session off 74.48 points or 1.1% lower at 6,571.44 points.

After nearing the US$318-per-oz. level, the yellow metal slipped in the afternoon and rang in at US$314.10 per oz., unchanged, in New York. The country’s gold miners put in mixed results. Kinross Gold was the most heavily traded dropping 4 to $2.83 on about 2.4 million shares. Barrick Gold was right behind falling 58 to $24.75. Placer Dome managed to gain 6 to $14.36 with more than 1.2 million shares on the move.

Others putting in modest gains included Meridian Gold, plus 39 to $26.94, NovaGold Resources, up a nickel to $3.45, Wheaton River Minerals, 1 higher at $1.18, and TVX Gold, which rose 14 to $18.39.

Inco was the busiest of the base metal miners falling 73 to $26.80 with about 914,000 share changing hands. The story was much the same group wide. Larger losses were put in by Teck Cominco, which fell 48 or 4.4% to $10.52 and Aur Resources, finishing 24 or 7% lighter at $3.21.

The TSX Venture Exchange composite index closed up 2.48 points, or 0.24% to 1034.48 with a light 18.3 million shares traded.

American Bonanza Gold Mines traded 329,000 shares and closed the day flat at 14. Late last month the junior made an agreement with Mask Resources, a member of the Varshney Capital group of companies, whereby Mask may acquire up to 49% of American Bonanza’s wholly owned Gold Bar and Pamlico projects, both located in Nevada. In return mask would make a cash payment of $100,000, issue 800,000 Mask shares, and fund exploration to the tune of $3.6 million over a three-year period.

Belmont Resources lost 2 and closed at 5 on 300,000 shares. The company is developing a talc industrial mineral deposit mine in the Republic of Slovakia as well as searching for diamonds on its Tolmie property located in north-central Ontario.

Laramide Resources tacked on 3 and closed at 17 with 245,000 shares changing hands. The company announced last month that it had inked a deal to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Alliance Pacific Resources, a private, Toronto based company whose sole asset is an option to acquire an interest in a 4,500 sq. km concession in the autonomous province of Xinjiang in north-western China.

Freewest Resources Canada lost 4 and closed at 26 with 213,900 shares traded. The junior recently inked a deal with Teck Cominco to grant the major an option to earn up to a 65% interest in Freewest’s Lizar gold project near Hornepayne, Ontario. Teck must spend $3 million over four years to earn a 55% and the remaining 10% can be earned by funding the project to production. Teck Cominco has also agreed to subscribe for 375,000 Freewest common shares at $0.40 for a total of $150,000.