Trading Summary (May 10, 2001)

A day after stealing the show, the Toronto Stock Exchange‘s gold & precious mineral subindex became one of just two subindexes to finish in the red on Thursday. The golds fell 6.72 points after gaining 237.98 points on Wednesday. The technology heavy industrial products subgroup fell for the second straight day.

The TSE’s base metal issues put in a better showing, gaining 77.07 points to end at 4,775.77. Cameco led the metals & minerals subindex with a $2.57, or 6.9%, gain on the strength of nearly 1.3 million shares. Bruce Power, a partnership between British Energy, Cameco and the two main unions at the Bruce nuclear site, has announced that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has granted it a license to operate nuclear power stations in southwestern Ontario. Cameco is the exclusive supplier of fuel to the Bruce reactors.

Other gainers in the group included Inco, up $1.13, or 4.1%, to $28.85, Aur Resources, up 18 to $2.63, and Sherritt International, 14 higher at $4.48.

Gains among the gold issues were more muted. Placer Dome was the most active issue with more than 2.1 million shares on the go. The issue fell 2 to $16.98. According to news reports, Placer’s Indonesia exploration arm is working with two local joint-venture partners to explore the Meratus and Kusan regions on the Indonesian side of Borneo.

Barrick Gold was the next most active issue with 1.8 million shares changing hands. The stock crept up a dime to $26.95.

Goldcorp rose 2 to $13.12. The company posted first-quarter earnings of US$14.7 million (or 18 per share) on revenue of US$48.3 million, compared with breakeven results for the same period in 2000. Quarterly gold production was 172,784 oz. at a cash cost of US$107 per oz., up from 23,801 oz. at US$216 in the first quarter of 2000. The Red Lake mine, in its first quarter of production, churned out 146,512 of those ounces at US$54 per oz.

Canada’s junior exchange posted gains across the board. The Canadian Venture Exchange tacked on 7.31 points, or 0.2%, to finish the day at 3,165. The Mining Index surged 67.30 points, or 1%, to close at 6,601.97.

Hymex Diamonds lost a penny on news that its joint-venture partner on the Milo claims in Guinea identified six anomalous areas from 157 stream-indicator mineral samples. Shares in the junior ended the day at 5 on a volume of nearly 1.3 million.

Tan Range Exploration got a boost following the announcement that drilling on its Itetimia property in Tanzania has hit significant widths of mineralization at depths of 440 metres at the Golden Horseshoe Reef zone. The junior surged 15 to 50 on 228,100 shares.

Diagem International Resource ended the day unchanged at 30 on 145,000 shares. The company recently announced that it will advance its diamond-mining project in the Juina diamond region of Brazil.

A big percentage gainer, shares in Skeena Resouces doubled in value on news that the company has inked a deal with a private company to acquire the Weirdale kimberlite cluster in the Fort a la Corne District of central Saskatchewan. Skeena ended the day at 8, up 3 on 202,000 shares.