Trading Summary (September 03, 2002)

The Toronto Stock Exchange began the holiday-shortened week on a sour note dropping 158.45 points or 2.4 % to end Tuesday’s trading session at 6,453.5 points. The gold index was alone in the black climbing 5.5 points or nearly 3$ to hit 190.22 points on across-the-board gains.

Placer Dome was the most active gold issue rising 63 to $16.18 on more than 4.3 million shares. On Friday, Placer announced that it was extending for the fifth time its hostile bid for Aussie gold miner AurionGold. The unconditional offer of 17.5 Placer shares plus $28 for every 100 Aurion shares was lengthened by 11 days to Sept. 10.

Kinross Gold grabbed 21 to make $3.26 with just more than 4 million shares traded. Barrick Gold managed to add 20 to hit $25.45 on less than 1.9 million shares.

Others gold stocks putting in percentage gains of at least 5% were: TVX Gold, up $1.09 to $3.26; Echo Bay Mines, plus 8 to $1.65; GoldCorp, 90 higher at $16.75; NovaGold Resources, 42 to the good at $5.87; and Miramar Mining, up 7 to $1.47.

The Metals and Mining index joined the rest of the market, dropping 3.39 points to finish the day at 115.59. Alcan led the bunch in trading, but dropped $2.13 to or nearly 5% to $41.64. Most of the others put in similar losses. One exception was Ivanhoe Mines, which tacked on 16 to settle at $2.85.

Canada’s junior bourse started the trading week on a sour note with the TSX Venture Exchange composite index losing 7.17 points, or 0.7%, to close at 1015.06.

Shares in ECU Silver Mining added 1 to close at 6 on 700,000 shares. The company recently announced a $300,000 private placement.

Shares in Starfield Resources soared 6 to close 50 on 549,300. The company reported that hole 132 into the Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-platinum-palladium cut three zones of massive sulphide ranging in thickness from 5.5-to-13.7 metres. Assay results are pending.

Donner Minerals continued to loss ground following the release of the assay results from hole 5 into the South Voiseys Bay (SVBN) nickel sulphide property in Labrador. Donner ended the day down 2 to 13 on just over 305,000 shares. Falconbridge, which can earn a 50% stake in the property, has been drilling the ground. The latest hole cut a high value of 0.73% nickel and 0.23% copper over 0.25 metre from 253.3 metres downhole. The major is currently reviewing and interpreting all of the results to date and drilling on the project has been suspended. Donner holds a 76.69% stake; Cypress Development has 11.36%; NDT Ventures holds 6.55%; and UC Resources has 5.4%.

American Bonanza Gold Mining lost 1 to close at 14 on 337,000. The junior is aiming to advance the Copperstone gold project in Arizona.