Trading Summary (September 04, 2001)

The Toronto Stock Exchange‘s 300 composite index finally pulled out of its skid and added 62.78 points on Tuesday to end at 7,399.22 points. The oil & gas sector led the way climbing nearly 6% on news of U.S.-based Devon Energy’s US$4.6-billion friendly takeover offer for Canada’s Anderson Exploration. The Metals & Minerals subindex went along for the ride gaining 49.93 points to reach 4,125.29 points. The golds fell 99.28 points or 2.1%, one of just three declining subindices on the TSE.

NovaGold Resources was the most active gold miner with nearly 1.1 million shares on the move. The issue jumped 25 or 17% to $1.75. The San Jose, California-based company awaits assay results from the first 6 drill holes of its first phase delineation drill program on the Donlin Creek deposit in Southwest Alaska. Drilling is focusing on one of several higher-grade targets within the Donlin resource area. All six holes cut significant widths of visible sulphide mineralization similar to that seen in previously hole by Placer Dome, which cut up to 29.8 metres of 20.2 grams gold per tonne. The results are expected by mid-September.

Another big percentage mover was Wheaton River Minerals, which shed 8 or 13% to 52. The company recently reported significantly lower second-quarter earnings of $525,000. Operations at the company’s seasonal Golden Bear mine in northwestern British Columbia, are winding down.

Viceroy Resources fell 1.5 or 10% to 13.5. On Tuesday, Viceroy announced that it has inked a settlement agreement with creditors that paves the way for the company to seek new opportunities.

Most of the others gold miners saw more modest losses. Barrick Gold fell 55 to $24.30, Placer Dome lost 43 to $16.74, Kinross Gold was off 7 at $1.27 and Franco-Nevada Mining slipped 33 to $19.85.

Teck Cominco and Boliden led the base metal miners with just more than 830,000 shares apiece traded. Teck lost 25 to $11.95 while Boliden slid 2.5 to 27.5. Noranda dropped 34 to $15.91. Going the other way were Falconbridge, up a dime to $16.60, Inco 13 higher at $25.95 and Alcan, which gained $1.45 to $57.90. On Tuesday, Salomon Smith Barney announced that it has downgraded its rating on Alcan to neutral from outperform, thanks to weaker metal prices.

Canada’s junior exchange came off the holiday-extended weekend in a docile mood as volume hit lows not seen since the dog days of summer. The Canadian Venture Exchange lost 15.89 points, or 0.5% to finish the day at 3,034.46. The Mining Index managed to gain 7.19 points, or 0.1% to close at 7,579.06.

Shares in Regent Ventures continued to climb on news that the company has launched a drill program over its Red Mountain gold property in the Yukon. The company ended the day at 29, up 5 on 490,000 shares.

North American Tungsten dropped a penny to close at 50 cents on 393,000 shares. The junior is gearing up to reopen the CanTung tungsten mine in the Yukon Territory.

Leader Mining International touched highs not seen in afew months, adding 15 cents to $1.15 on 143,000 shares. The company recently announced that financing is in place to continue on the Cogburn nickel property in BC.

Andean American Mining lost 1 cent to 27 cents on 150,000 shares. The company announced that its pilot plant was up and running on its Santsa Rosa gold propject in Peru. Placer Dome has a joint venture with the junior over the surrounding property but with recent exploration cut backs announced by the major the amount of work to be completed on the ground remains in question.

Starfield Resources continued to move lower, dropping 4 cents to 46 cents on 219,000 shares. The company has three rigs turning on the Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-platinum-palladium project in Nunavut.