Trading Summary (April 19, 2002)

The Toronto Stock Exchange ended the week on a high note gaining 81.49 points or 1% to hit 7,818.11. The pipelines subgroups led the way climbing 2.8%; the financial services subindex grew by 2.2%. The golds tacked on 1.6% to reach 6,144.53, while the base metal issues shed 7.54 points to 4,784.67, one of just two declining subindices.

Tahera was the only mining issue to make the TSE’s top ten traded list falling a penny to 39 with more than 2.3 million share son the go. On Friday, Tahera said it had finalized the joint venture amending agreement with Kennecott Canada Exploration, a member of the Rio Tinto group. Under the new deal, Kennecott has the option to incorporate the Jericho claims into the existing joint venture before Sept. 2002. During the option period, Kennecott must drill at least 20 kimberlite targets on the claims.

Canada’s big three gold miners all saw modest gains on the day. Barrick, with 2 million shares traded, was the busiest and gained 35 to $28.70, Kinross Gold gained 6 to $2.25 on 1.9 million shares, and Placer Dome rose 20 to 19 on 1.4 million shares.

Falconbridge was the most active base metal miner finishing 68 higher at $20.48 on 1.4 million shares. On Friday, Falco posted better-than-expected, first-quarter net earnings of $17.3 million, or 10 per basic and fully diluted share.

Major shareholder Noranda gained a dime to $20.05, a new 52-week high on 972,000 shares. Derek Pannell, now president and CEO of Falco and Noranda says the two companies will aim to work more closely together.

Canada’s junior exchange managed to end the trading week by posting solid gains on continued low volume. The Standard & Poor’s-CDNX Composite Index gained 7.12 points, or 0.6% and closed at 1,167.01.

Goldminco topped the most actively traded chart, soaring 5 to close at 14 on over 4.1 million shares. The junior acquired an interest in the Balabag and Masapelid gold projects in the Philippines.

Starfield Resources added 2 to close at $1.08 on 412,350 shares. The junior has the drill rigs turning on its Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-platinum-palladium project in Nunavut.

Shares in Kensington Resources lost 2 to close at $1.81 on a volume of 234,000. The junior’s joint venture partner, De Beers Canada expects to have completed the valuation, grade prediction and revenue modeling for the Fort a la Corne diamond project in Saskatchewan by the end of April.

Investors sold off shares in Golconda Resources following news that the winter drill program on the Shulin Lake diamond property failed to cut any kimberlites. The junior ended the day down 3, to 35 on 174,000 shares.

Northern Dynasty Minerals continued to march higher on low volume. The Hunter Dickinson led junior gained 7 to close at $1.15 on only 19,300 shares. The company is expected to start drilling the Pebble copper-gold porphyry property in Alaska shortly.