Trading Summary (December 11, 2001)

Some late-day profit taking sent the Toronto Stock Exchange down 28.21 points to 7,531.6 on Tuesday. Investors all but ignored a 25-basis-point interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Leading the TSE’s eight declining subindices was the Pipelines subgroup, which fell 2.2% to 6,452.81. The golds shed 35.01 points while the base metal issues managed to scrape together 2.14 points to hit 4,086.34.

TVX Gold soared on to investor’s view screen with nearly 6 million shares on the move. Last Friday, the company quashed reports that the matters related to the declaration of force majeure at its Stratoni operation in Greece had been cleared up. The miner says the situation remains unchanged. Kinross Gold was the next busiest miner with just less than 3 million shares changing hands. The issue fell 4 to 99.

Barrick Gold gained 14 to hit $23.90 to stand out among the gold majors. Placer Dome fell 37 to 16.51; Cambior finished unchanged at 70; and Franco-Nevada Mining slipped 38 to $21.97. Normandy Mining gained a nickel to $14.15 as it awaits the next volley in the bidding war being fought over it by Newmont and AngloGold. Most of the other gold producers traded sideways.

LionOre Mining managed to find a nickel to reach $2.05. On Tuesday, the company announced that it and partner Australian-listed Dalrymple Resources will immediately go ahead with the Thunderbox gold project in Western Australia, after receiving some regulatory permits and securing financing.

The base metal miners were a mixed bag. Teck Cominco outpaced the field gaining a dime to $11.75 with more than 2.4 million shares traded. Ongoing drilling by Teck Cominco recently cut impressive gold-bearing skarn mineralization on its 72%-held Morelos North Reserve property in Mexico’s Guerrero state. Alcan gained 14 to $57.64 to finish a distant second in trading volume.

Inco fell 33 to $25.65; Falconbridge gained 2 to $15.46; Noranda lost 28 to $14.07; Aur Resources fell shed 20 to $2.90.

In diamond news, Tahera gained half a penny or 3.5% to 15 after reporting more diamonds from its Anuri East kimberlite on the Rockinghorse property in Nunavut.

An afternoon buying binge helped Canada’s junior exchange end the day virtually unchanged on light volume. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index ended the session down 0.47 point to close at 996.80.

Shares of Andean American Mining continued to attract investors climbing towards a new 52-week high ending the day at 50, up 1 on a volume of 262,600. The company is currently running a test pilot plant at its Santa Rosa gold property in Peru. By early next year the company envisions a 3,250 tonnes per day gold operation.

Altius Minerals closed at 80, unchanged on the day with 324,200 shares crossing the floor. The junior recently inked a deal with Barrick Gold allowing the major to earn up to a 75% stake in its Botwood Basin gold project in Newfoundland. Barrick will be looking for “Carlin-Type” gold deposits on the property.

News that International Wayside Gold Mines aims to raise $1.05 million by issuing up to 1.75 million units priced a 60 each sent investors into a selling mood. Shares in the Frank Callaghan-led company lost 2 to close at 11 on a volume of 191,800. Each unit holds three flow-through shares, three flow-through warrants, one non-flow-through share and one non-flow-through warrant. Two flow through warrants let the holder purchase one additional flow-through share at the price of 25. The company also reported that hole 1-20 returned 27.1 ft. grading 0.23 oz gold per ton in the BC Vein on its Cariboo gold property near Wells, BC.

Silver Standard Resources hit a new 52-week high gaining 30 to close at $3.80 on 103,493 shares. The company is currently drilling the high-grade Manantial Espejo silver-gold project in Argentina.