Trading Summary (September 09, 2002)

The Toronto Stock Exchange ventured 42.47 points higher ending at 6,522.22 points on Monday. Leading the way were the golds stocks, up 6.46 points or 3.3% and the materials sector, plus 2.46 points or 2.1%. The base metal miners managed to grab just 0.35 of a point.

Paced by a US$1.10-per-oz. gain by gold in New York, the golds were mostly higher in heavy trading. Crystallex International stole the limelight among the golds. The company announced this past weekend that Venezuelan state-owned Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana has awarded it the operating contract for the long-disputed Las Cristinas property in Bolivar state. Crystallex shares shot up 60 or 23% to $3.20.

Kinross Gold was the TSX’s most traded issue climbing 21 to $3.61 on more then 11 million shares. The country’s other major producers saw thinner trading. Barrick Gold advanced 90 to $26.60 and Placer Dome climbed 30 to $16.70, both saw more than 2.5 million shares traded.

On Monday, AurionGold, Placer’s partner and takeover target rejected the Canadian miner’s request for four seats on its board of directors. Placer’s bid for the gold miner has received about 37% of the Aussie’s outstanding shares.

Goldcorp jumped 98, to $17.90 on news of having extended the High Grade zone at depth. Wedge-hole 37L032AW cut 10 intervals of mineralization, the last being 70 ft. in core-length and 10.80 oz. per ton in grade. The interval began at a depth of 6,850 ft. below surface, making it the deepest yet encountered; it is also the highest grade every reported from Red Lake.

Teck Cominco‘s B series of shares were the most active of the base metal issues, but just by a hair. The series dropped a dime to $10.25 on 783,391 shares. Sliding in just behind, Alcan‘s shares finished $1.85 higher at $42 on a handful fewer shares.

Falconbridge managed to scrape together 30 to make $15.95. On Friday Falconbridge said that talks with the union at its Kidd Creek metallurgical division had begun. The existing deal for 700 production and maintenance workers at Kidd expires at the end of September.

Canada’s junior bourse failed to rally despite a good showing from the gold explorers. The TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 1.82 points, or 0.18%, to close at 1002.81.

American Bonanza Gold Mining ending the day up a penny at 16 on 470,00 shares. The junior is aiming to advance the Copperstone gold project in Arizona.

Radius Explorations popped back onto investors radar screen gaining 1 to close at 50 on 250,300 shares. The junior has a large land position in Guatemala and a joint venture with South African-based Gold Fields.

Shares in Diagem International Resource lost a penny to close at 19 on 346,000 shares. Stock in the junior has rallied over the past week on news of surface sample results from a diamond project near Wawa, Ontario. Joint venture partner, KWG Resources and fellow junior Spider Resources reported that 24 of 52 samples collected on the 45-sq-km property returned 565 diamonds, 50 of which were macrodiamonds.Starfield Resources lost some of its recent gains, dropping 3 to close at 47 on 216,100 shares. 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.