Trading Summary (June 01, 2001)

The Toronto Stock Exchange ended the week on a high note, tacking on 89.03 points to close at 8,250.9 on Friday. Gains were seen across the board, except for the communications and media sector, which fell 153.55 points. Putting in the best percentage gains were the gold and precious minerals subindex, up 105.39 points or 2.2%, and the metals and minerals subindex, up 86.62 points or 1.8%.

Barrick Gold led the country’s gold miners with more than 1.3 million shares on the move. The stock gained 22 to $25.52. The smaller producers saw better percentage gains. Glamis Gold rose 33, or 8.8%, to $4.09, Miramar Mining added 11, or 8.7%, to hit $1.38, Meridian Gold climbed 85, or 7.6%, to $12.10 and Wheaton River Minerals rose 9, or 11.3%, to 89.

Sherritt International was the busiest base metal issue with more than 2.1 million shares crossing the floor on their way to a 26 gain to $5.60. Sherritt has declared a quarterly dividend of 10 per restricted voting share, payable on June 29 to shareholders of record as of June 14.

Other base metal miners on the plus side were Inco, up 24 to $29, Noranda, up 13 to $16.78, Aur Resources, up 17 to $3.20, and Alcan, $1.65 higher at $70.50. Alcan announced that it has closed the $175-million sale of its Jamaican alumina operations to Swiss company Glencore. The assets comprise two alumina refineries with a combined capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of alumina per year, as well as related bauxite reserves and mine sites.

Canada’s junior exchange posted gains on all indexes. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite index closed the day at 3351.83, up 18.94 points, or 0.6%. The mining index continued to rally, climbing 86.70 points, or 1.2%, to finish at 7252.06.

New Blue Ribbon Resources lost 4 and closed at 13 with 967,000 shares crossing the floor. The company continues to loose ground after the release of assay results from the first round of drilling on the Moose diamond property in Manitoba. Blue Ribbon’s joint venture partner, BHP Diamonds, tested seven magnetic anomalies on the project without hitting kimberlite.

Cantex Mine Development closed the day at 11 down 2 on 266,000 shares. The Chuck Fipke-lead company recently discovered a gossan formation 24 km north of the Suwar nickel-copper-cobalt prospect in Yemen. Assay results are still pending.

Starfield Resources added 4 to its value and closed the day at 67 with 174,000 shares traded. The company recently released assay results from its Ferguson Lake nickel, copper, cobalt, PGE project in Nunavut. Hole FL-69 cut 6.33 metres grading 1.8% copper, 0.88% nickel, 0.122% cobalt, 2.65 grams palladium and 0.38 gram platinum per tonne.

Nordac Resources lost a penny and closed at 6 with 168,000 shares traded. Petra Resources is earning a 50% interest in the Burwash property in southwest Yukon from Nordac. The property hosts undrilled palladium-platinum-nickel-copper-gold showings and soil geochemical anomalies.

Muskox Minerals tacked on 19 and closed at 89 with 116,000 shares traded. The company has been focusing its attention on the source of the Keel-2 conductive geophysical anomalies at the base of the Muskox Intrusion in Nunavut. Results from three holes of a 13 hole drill program are still pending.