Trading Summary (January 18, 2002)

The Toronto Stock Exchange fell today on almost all fronts, with only the pipeline stocks gaining ground. The TSE 300 composite index, dragged down by the golds and the tech-heavy industrial products sectors, slid 47.92 points to close at 7,604.79.

Easing in the gold price and profit-taking cost the gold subgroup about 2% of value today, with the index falling 113.17 points to 5,505.15.

Franco-Nevada Mining was the overwhelming volume leader today, with 6 million shares moving. South African mining house AngloGold abandoned a takeover bid for Australian gold producer Normandy Mining, leaving the field open for the competitive bid from Newmont Mining. Provided that bid goes through, Franco will merge with Newmont.

Franco, Normandy’s largest shareholder, was down 57 at $25.80. Normandy was unchanged on the Toronto board at $17.45. In New York, Newmont was off US45 at US$20.20.

Among the larger producers, Barrick Gold fell away 67 to close at $27.03, Placer Dome was 34 lower at $19.01, and Kinross Gold was off a penny at $1.42.

Base metal prices in the London markets were uniformly lower. Nickel backed away US$220 to US$5,830 per tonne; copper was off US$10.50 at US$1,517.50 per tonne; and zinc was US$10 lower at US$810.

Other than Alcan, which picked up a nickel to finish at $55.68, grief was general in the base metal producers. Inco was down 40 at $26.60, Noranda fell 15 to $15.30, and among the smaller producers, Sherritt International was 13 lower at $4.10.

Toronto juniors, on the other hand, were generally more positive. The star performer among the explorers was Queenstake Resources, which was 11 higher at 23, with 557,000 shares trading. The company announced earlier this week that it had obtained financing for its Magistral gold project in Sinaloa state, Mexico.

Another heavy trader to post gains was Pure Gold Minerals, which added 2.5 to finish at 24 on a volume of 2.4 million shares. Pure Gold has part of the Kim property in the North Slave area of Nunavut; project operator Ashton Mining released positive initial micro- and macro-diamond counts from the Artemisia kimberlite. Ashton, too, was up, gaining 15 to close at $4 on 560,000 shares.

Canada’s junior exchange managed to fight off some early selling pressure to end the day virtually unchanged. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index lost 0.11 of a point to end the week at 1094.44.

Riding the increased interest in diamond exploration, Augusta Resource added 3 to 28 on 760,500 shares. The junior announced plans to explore seven properties in the Coronation Bay area of Nunavut. Augusta entered into agreements with a Northwest Territory company to acquire a 20% working interest in 6 properties totaling approximately 600,000 acres and a 10% interest in one property containing 133,000 acres.

Consolidated Jaba added 2 to 17 on 1.55 million shares. A group of insiders arranged the sale of 1.5 million shares at a price of 12. The company recently inked a deal to earn a 70% stake in 100,000 acres of ground in the Coronation Bay area.

Marum Resources added 2 to 13 on 1.28 million shares. The junior and partner Shear Minerals have identified 9 priority drill targets on the Birch Mountain diamond project in Alberta. Shear ended the day down 1 at 24 on a weak volume.

Donner Minerals ended the week near its 52-week high, adding 3 to 31 on 218,900 shares. The company recently signed a deal with Falconbridge to jointly explore the South Voiseys Bay nickel sulphide area of Labrador.