TSX stumbles off the blocks

The Toronto Stock Exchange ended 2004 on a sour note, dropping 17.75 points to end at 9,246.65 on Dec. 31. Still, that’s 1,025.8 points, or 12.5%, better than at the end of 2003. The holiday-shortened Dec. 29-to-Jan. 4 report period saw the TSX come in 86.1 points lighter at 9,142.98.

The gold miners were dogged by a new year’s hangover, shedding 8.67 points or 4.2%, to end at 198.69 on the first day of trading in 2005. The slide mirrored gold’s performance, which suffered at the hands of a strengthening greenback. Year over year, the golds were off 20.5 points, or 9%, from the end of 2003. After rising steadily, the base metals miners shed 4.9 points to end the period at 259.27; the group gained 36.75 points, or 16%, during 2004.

Thistle Mining finished atop the most-traded miners’ list with just shy of 27 million shares changing hands. The stock closed at 1 just before Dec. 31, when the TSX suspended it from trading on Dec. 31 in reaction to the company’s recently announced restructuring plan. Thistle will apply for reinstatement once the restructuring is completed.

Shares in Comaplex Minerals got a boost after South Africa’s Gold Fields snapped up a 14.4% stake in the junior explorer. Gold Fields says it acquired the 5.2 million shares for investment purposes. Comaplex is exploring for precious and base metals and diamonds in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, as well as in Ontario and Mexico. Gold Fields is the subject of a hostile takeover bid from smaller rival Harmony Gold. The two recently held talks aimed at coming to an amicable agreement. Comaplex rose 20, to $3.50.

Hillsborough Resources grabbed another nickel to make $1.23. The coal miner has privately placed 5 million shares and 2 million flow-through shares for proceeds of $6.6 million. Not to be outdone, Jaguar Mining issued around 9 million units to a group of investment dealers to raise $35 million; the shares slipped 20, to $3.50.

Capstone Gold surrendered most of its gains but managed to finish 7 better at 98. The company raised nearly $8.6 million in mid-December 2004 via the private placement of just more than 10 million units. The proceeds will fund exploration and development at the Cozamin copper-silver-zinc project in Mexico’s Zacatecas state.

Sherritt International says it is encouraged by results from exploration drilling in the Santa Cruz oil prospect in Block 7, off the northwestern coast of Cuba. The company owns a 45% working interest in the project. Initial tests indicate a flow rate of 1,300 barrels per day. The shares yo-yoed 19 higher to $9.70.

Turning an eye toward the latest merger saga, Goldcorp and Wheaton River Minerals have inked a definitive merger agreement that would see Goldcorp exchange one of its own shares for every four Wheaton shares. The plan is opposed by Reno-based Glamis Gold, which is offering Goldcorp shareholders 0.89 of one of its shares for each Goldcorp share. Glamis’s bid hinges on the Wheaton deal’s being quashed by Goldcorp shareholders; a vote has been slated for the end of January. Goldcorp fell $1.07, to $17.19; Wheaton lost 8, to hit $3.80; and Glamis dropped $1.18, to $19.60.

Likewise, Apollo Gold slipped late after a steady climb to edge up 2 pennies to 92. The Denver-based miner recently poured its first gold-silver dore bar at the Standard mine in northwestern Nevada.