Trading Summary (May 21, 2002)

The Toronto Stock Exchange was a little weaker in trading on Tuesday, with the TSX Composite Index slipping 38.72 points to finish at 7,688.31, a loss that represented only half a per cent of value. But most components of the market were lower, leaving gains in the golds and the banks to prop up the index.

The TSX Gold index was up 16.97 points to 219.18, a gain of 8.4%, as gold prices rose again in London and New York trading. The London afternoon fix was US$315.20 per oz. and the yellow metal was quoted at US$315.90 bid in New York.

The big gainer among the Toronto golds was Kinross Gold, which added 61 to finish at $3.83 — a whopping 19% gain on the day. Kinross was also the most actively traded of the golds, seeing 10.8 million shares move. Another big gainer was Goldcorp, which added $2.34 to close at $16.89 on 2.6 million volume.

The general trend was into the smaller gold producers, with the heavyweights making more modest gains. Barrick Gold was up a buck at $34.90, while Placer Dome added 90 to close at $20.81.

On the other hand, off-index stocks like TVX Gold, Eldorado Gold, Geomaque Explorations and Bema Gold were all heavily traded and made big gains. TVX picked up 23 to finish at $1.66 on a volume of 7.2 million shares; Eldorado added 11 and closed at $1.31 with 6.8 million trading. Geomaque was up 4 to 16 on a volume of 5.8 million and Bema added 62 to close at $2.62 as 4.4 million shares rode the tape.

The market plainly liked the bid made by Pan American Silver to take over Corner Bay Silver, as both companies saw gains on the day. Corner Bay was lifted $1.74 to $6.00, while Pan American was up 33 at $11.33. The merger proposal would see Corner Bay shareholders get 0.54 shares of Pan American for every Corner Bay share — an implied payoff of $6.11 at today’s closing prices — and a new company with about $5 million in cash would be spun off from Corner Bay, with current shareholders getting one share for each four Corner Bay shares tendered.

Another heavy trader was TVI Pacific, which saw 2.9 million shares move and gained half a cent, to close at 8. The rise came on news that Australian-based Lafayette Mining, which is now operating TVI’s old Rapu Rapu polymetallic project in the Philippines, had brought in China Non-Ferrous Metals, China’s para-statal metal trading company, and Jiangxi Copper as partners at Rapu Rapu. The two Chinese companies take up a 21.7% interest in the project for US$5 million, and Jiangxi has signed an agreement to buy Rapu Rapu’s copper concentrates, with an option on gold and silver production.

The Toronto metals and minerals index was down fractionally at 144.09. Inco was down 20 at $32.40, Falconbridge slid 57 to $18.72, and Noranda fell 15 to $18.65. On the upside, Cameco added 65 to close at $44.05, Sherritt International was 16 higher at $5.06, and Aur Resources picked up 7 to finish at $4.22.