Trading Summary (September 16, 2002)

After falling early, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s gold stocks climbed through the day to put in a 3.41-point or 1.7% gain to 207.25 points. The yellow metal itself managed to scrape together US70 to hit US$317.20 per oz. in New York. The diversified metals & mining index managed to edge up just 0.02 of a point to 116.7 points. By day’s end, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was 5.35 points higher at 6,500.61 points.

Northern Orion Explorations joined the country’s major gold producers on the TSX’s top ten traded list with nearly 2.3 million shares changing hands. The issues ended the session unchanged at 6.5. Also making a rare appearance on the list was Wheaton River Minerals, which advanced 7 to $1.36 on about 1.8 million shares.

The usual suspects were also on the list: Kinross Gold grabbed 3 to make $3.65; Placer Dome rose 19 to $17.14; and Barrick Gold ended 24 higher at $27.79. GoldCorp just missed the list climbing 61 to $18.61. GoldCorp recently reported that underground drilling had turned up the deepest and richest section of mineralization ever found at its Red Lake gold mine in northwestern Ontario.

Echo Bay Mines managed to tack on a penny to reach $1.86 despite revising its second-quarter per share results to a loss of 27 per share. The revision takes into account a $137.8-million loss generated by the company’s April share offering.

Alcan led a very quiet bunch of base metal miners advancing 21 to $40.80 with just fewer than 590,000 shares traded. Others on the rise were: Sherritt International, plus 5 to $4.75; Teck Cominco‘s B shares, up 20 to $11; Ivanhoe Mines, up 8 at $3.33; and Fording Coal, 14 to the good at $22.79.

Canada’s junior bourse started the trading week on by drifting lower as investors elected to remain on the sidelines. The TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 9.57 points, or 1%, to close at 999.53.

Pan Asia Miningcontinued to trade near a 52-week low, ending the session flat at 3 on 295,000 shares. The junior has been attempting to advance a series of diamond projects in China.

Quaterra Resources hit a new 52-week low of 7, down 1 on the day with 286,000 shares changing hands. The junior’s joint venture partner Eastmain Resources recently completed five diamond drill holes totalling 968 metres on the Chabbie Lake claim block in northern Ontario.

Gallery Resources dropped 2 to close at 12 on 117,500 shares. The junior reported that hole 32 into the Black Bart Katie property in south central Newfoundland cut 58 metres of alteration, which typically runs gold.

Investors continued to bail out of shares in Platinum Group Metals following news that the company had inked a deal to earn a 55% stake in the Ledig farm in the western Bushveld of South Africa. The junior lost 4 to close at 81 on a light 29,691 shares.