Trading Summary (June 22, 2001)

Bargain hunters helped the Toronto Stock Exchange end the week on a slightly high note on Friday. The TSE’s 300 composite index finished 32.78 points higher at 7,739.7, its second straight day of gains after several days of losses. The tech-heavy industrial products and gold and precious mineral subgroups each gained more than 1%. The golds gained 74.88 points, or 1.8%, to end at 4,717.3. The base metal issues fell 28.5 points to 4,361.45.

Placer Dome was the most active gold issue with nearly 1.6 million shares on the go. The stock was unchanged at $15.40. Barrick Gold gained 35 to $25.05 with about 1.2 million shares traded. Kinross Gold gained 11 to $1.30 on about 900,000 shares, about half the volume it has been experiencing lately. Viceroy Resource was off 3, or 10.3%, to 26 and Hope Bay Gold was down 1 at 39. Miramar Mining, Hope Bay’s partner at the Hope Bay gold project in Nunavut, fell 4 to $1.26.

Miramar announced that, under a previous agreement, as of Dec 14, it will return the Giant Mine to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Miramar will not retain any environmental liability. The company acquired the mine in 1999 to supplement production from the nearby Con Mine until additional reserves were accessed.

Most of the country’s base metal miners suffered losses on the day. Inco fell 30 to $25.90, Sherritt International lost 16 to $5.27, Noranda dropped a quarter to $16.65 and Cominco shed 15 to $29.35. Boliden swam against the current to post a 2 gain to 59. Boliden recently announced that its lenders have formally approved a refinancing and restructuring deal.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the trading week by posting modest gains. The Canadian Venture Exchange edged upwards by 14.63 points, or 0.5%, to close at 3,257.29. The Mining Index followed suit, gaining 37.47 points, or 0.5%, to close at 7,353.16.

Northern Continental Pacific Resources dropped a penny to 15 on 800,000 shares. The company holds the Russell uranium project in the eastern Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan.

NovaWest Resources ended the day unchanged at 15 on 290,000 shares. The junior recently picked up a 100% interest in the Nickel-Royale property in the Hemlo-Schrieber gold camp of southwestern Ontario.

Starfield Resources failed to get a boost from the latest drill results at the West zone on the Ferguson Lake copper-nickel-platinum-palladium property in Nunavut. Shares in the junior ended the day flat at 66 on 296,000 shares.

North American Tungsten tacked on a penny to 65 on a moderate 89,000 shares. The company announced that it will reopen the CanTung tungsten mine in the Northwest Territories. CanTung has a minable reserve of 630,000 tonnes grading 1.8% tungsten trioxide. The operation is slated to begin in December.