Trading Summary (May 06, 2004)

Toronto’s mining stocks led the broader market south on Thursday, as the golds dropped 5.43 points, or 2.8%, to 187.76 and the diversified crowd shed 5.56 points, or 2.7%, to 204.23. Overall, the S&P-TSX composite index lost 29.61 points.

Ivanhoe Mines made news on Thursday announcing that the Hugo North deposit may contain almost twice as much gold as previously thought. A new independent resource estimates that Hugo now hosts inferred resources of 666 million tonnes grading 1.46% copper and 0.34 grams of gold. The increase represents a 37% increased in contained copper, and an 84% increase in contained gold from a previous estimate in November. The shares edged 4 higher to $8.78. Hugo North is one of five copper and gold deposits at Ivanhoe’s Oyu Tolgoi project in southern Mongolia.

Staying in Mongolia, Reuters reports that Barrick Goldplans to take a take a serious look at Oyu Tolgoi, which Ivanhoe recently put in play. Barrick’s shares retreated 69 to $26.59.

Likewise, shares in mid-tier gold producer GoldCorp dropped 51 to $15.30. On Thursday, the Robert McEwen-led company said its Red Lake mine in Northwestern Ontario produced its 5 millionth ounce of gold. The mine is expected to churn out another 5 million ounces by 2012.

The gold stocks suffered as the yellow metal lost US5.40 per oz. to end the day at US$387.80 in New York.

Alcan was the busiest base metal major with more than 2.4 million shares winding their way $1.85 lower to $55.80. The aluminum giant posted first-quarter net income of US$106 million (or 29 per share), including US$83 million in charges mostly on the acquisition of French rival Pechiney. The company lost US$27 million (9 per share) during the corresponding period of 2003. Revenue between the two periods nearly doubled to US$6.24 billion thanks to the addition of Pechiney’s revenues.

Better percentage gainers were Montreal-based niobium hopeful Niocan, which jumped 20, or nearly 18%, to $1.35, and Zaruma Resources, which finished 4, or 17%, higher at 27.5. Zaruma reported a first-quarter net loss of US$652,000 (or 1.3 per share), compared with a year-ago loss of US$281,000 (0.7 per share). The increased loss is attributed to higher exploration spending. There was no immediate news out of Niocan.