Trading Summary (November 30, 2001)

The Toronto Stock Exchange added 25.21 points to end at 7,425.7 points on Friday. At the end of trading six of the TSE’s fourteen subindices were in the red. The golds rose 34.39 points to 4,819.46 points while the base metal issues slid 5.64 points to 4,008.71.

Gold was the only precious metal to end the week lower in New York. The yellow metal fell US20 per oz. to US$273.60 per oz. The biggest advancer was palladium, which gained US$14 to US$345 per oz.

Heading up the TSE’s activity list was Boliden, whose investor recently gave a collective thumbs up to a plan to move the company’s headquarters to Sweden. The issue fell 12 or nearly 41% to 17.5 on more than 15 million shares. On Friday, the company announced that it received final court approval for the redomiciliation.

Kinross Gold was the next closest mining issue gaining a penny to $1.08 on about 1.6 million shares. Most of the other gold issues saw similar modest gains. Barrick Gold rose 15 to $23.75; Placer Dome gained 4 to $17.05; Franco-Nevada Mining added 74 to $23.02; and Normandy Mining was a dime higher at $13.

After Boliden, Teck Cominco was the busiest base metal miner with about 860,000 shares traded. The stock climbed a dime to $11.20. Inco dropped 15 to $25.35; Falconbridge gained 24 to $16.30; Alcan gained 69 to $56.69; and Noranda dropped 14 to $14.56.

On Friday, Noranda announced plans to suspend production at the Gasp copper smelter in May. The suspension will last for at least six months. The move will knock 15% off Noranda’s overall smelting capacity. The company will also reduce annual cathode production from the CCR refinery in Montreal.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the trading week strong led by a triple-digit gain in mining-related issues. The Canadian Venture Exchange closed down 19.62 points, or 0.6% to close at 3045.00. The Mining Index plunged 77.53 points, or 1% to close at 7,768.54.

Atacama Minerals tacked on 4 to end the week at 65 on 280,400 shares. The company announced that full iodine operations have been achieved at the Aguas Blancas mine in northern Chile.

Getty Copper tacked on 2 to close at 11 with 1.04 million shares crossing the floor. The junior plans to develop its Highland Valley copper deposits in BC using a solvent extraction-electro-winning process, (SX-EW). New variations of this technology are currently being studied to optimize projected copper recoveries and the economics of the project.

Shares in Radius Explorations failed to get a boost on news that South African-based Gold Fields has inked a deal to earn up to 70% in Radius’ Tambor gold property in Guatemala. The Simon Ridgway-led company lost 1 to end the week at 23 on 821,000 shares. At last report, the diamond drill rig was being mobilized to the Lupita zone where five of seven previously reported reverse circulation holes bottomed in phyllite-hosted gold mineralization.

A nice percentage gainer, Cantex Mine Development ended the week up 2 to 8 on 579,500 shares. The Charles Fipke-led company has been exploring for gold and base metals in Yemen and has a diamond interest in Greenland.