Trading Summary (October 30, 2002)

Toronto stocks rebounded to the tune of 35.55 points on Wednesday, closing the day out at 6,330.36 points. Much of the bounce came compliments of the technology stocks, which regained 3.76% after a day-ago 6% slide. The golds resumed their climb, grabbing 2.12 points to make 170.28 points, despite a US80 fall by gold to US$316.30 per oz. in New York. The base metal issues traded sideways to a 0.36 gain to 124.28 points.

The latest merger buddies, Iamgold and Repadre Capital, both recouped day-earlier losses. Iamgold took back 8 to hit $5.16; Repadre rose 11 to $7.96. Iamgold and Repadre have tabled an all-share merger deal that would see Repadre shareholder receive 1.6 Iamgold shares for each share held. Iamgold’s third-quarter net earnings came in virtually unchanged from a year earlier at US$3 million (or 3 per share). Operating cash flow slipped US$3 million to US$6 million. Revenue took up the slack climbing US$3 million to US$25 million.

Kinross Gold was the busiest gold major, with about 3.5 million shares trading to an 8 gain to $2.56. Placer Dome and Barrick Gold went the other way. Placer added 20 to reach $14.10 on about 2.5 million shares, and Barrick advanced 88 to $24.37 with nearly 1.9 million shares crossing the floor.

The rest put in mixed results. On the plus side were: Cambior, up 4 to $1.44; Glamis Gold, advancing 17 to $12.93; Miramar Mining, up a penny to $1.19; and Meridian Mining, which tacked on 9 to settle at $25.90.

On Tuesday, Miramar announced that an employee at its Con Mine in the Northwest Territories was stuck and killed by a truck on surface. An investigation into the incident is underway.

Mid-tier producer Agnico Eagle was among the losers, dropping 12 to $21.40. Late on Wednesday, Agnico announced plans to offer 11 million units comprising one share plus half a warrant. One warrant allows the holder to buy one share at any time for five years.

Inco was the most traded base metal miner, adding 28 to $30.95 with about 2.2 million shares on the go. Joining Inco on the good side were: Falconbridge, plus 19 to $14.75; Sherritt International, up a nickel top $4.30; Noranda, 13 higher at $14.65; and Alcan 17 to $44.77; and LionOre Mining International, which tacked on 4 to reach $4.14.

Ivanhoe Mines dropped a penny to $2.95, despite significantly expanding the discovery of extensive copper-rich mineralization at the Far North Zone of the Turquoise Hill (Oyu Tolgoi) gold and copper project in southern Mongolia. Ivanhoe’s vice president of exploration call the latest results from the Far North Zone, "the most impressive mineral intercepts that we have encountered at Oyu Tolgoi.” Further results from five other holes are pending.

Canada’s junior exchange gave back ground as investors unloaded speculative issues. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 6.24 points or 0.69%, and closed at 899.27.

Pan Asia Mining was the most actively traded junior explorer, ending the day unchanged at 4 with nearly 520,000 shares changing hands. The company has not maintained the requirements for a Tier 1 company listing on the exchange and as a result has been reclassified as Tier 2. At last report, the company was exploring for diamonds on four parcels of land in the southern part of the Shandong province in China.

Spider Resources closed at 5, flat on the day with just over 500,000 shares changing hands. Stock in the junior has traded heavily since announcing that De Beers had cut massive sulphides in one of its 13 holes drilled into the Spider #3 property in northern Ontario. Failing to hit any kimberlites, De Beers has elected to stop work on the property, but the sulphide hole returned 8 metres grading 1.61% copper, 0.34% zinc, 0.13% lead, plus 9.9 grams silver and 0.13 gram gold per tonne. Included in this section was a 0.5-metre portion running 7.09% copper, 4.67% zinc, 2.68% lead, 150.6 grams silver and 0.76 gram gold.

Vannessa Ventures lost 5 to close at 50 on 258,617 shares. The company is embroiled in a legal dispute over the Las Cristinas gold property in Venezuela. Minca, Vannessa Ventures’ subsidiary, recently reported that public statements made by Toronto-listed Crystallex International regarding "the legal ownership, contractual rights, investigations and court challenges involving the Las Cristinas concessions are incorrect and create confusion as to the real situation in Venezuela". The junior states that it is pursuing claim to the actual concession titles.