Trading Summary (April 24, 2003)

It was generally a down day on the world’s stock markets, and the Toronto Stock Exchange was no exception. The TSX Composite index fell 55.32 points to close at 6,561.55 on Thursday, with only three market sectors — health care, utilities and real estate — showing gains.

The mining and basic-materials stocks were the worst hit, with the TSX Gold index down 4.65 points at 156.62, the TSX Materials index down 2.39 at 108.40, and the TSX Metals and Mining index down 1.97 at 118.66.

In the gold sector, which was down 2.9% of value, the bigger they were, the harder they fell. Placer Dome was down 63 at $14.25, for a loss of over 4% and Barrick Gold slid 68 to $21.94 for a loss of 3%. Trading was moderate, with 1.4 million Placer and 1.8 million Barrick shares moving.

Mid-tiers were not much better off, as Goldcorp backed up 60, finishing at $15.20, Meridian Gold gave up 55 to close at $14.55, and Glamis Gold shed 49 to finish the day at $15.90.

Agnico Eagle Mines, which was down half a buck at $15.10, announced that it had bought the minority interest in the Lapa property, adjoining its LaRonde mine in northwestern Quebec, from Breakwater Resources. Despite the nice cheque, Breakwater was down a cent and a half at 15 on a volume of a million shares.

It was also mostly misery in the base metals, although Cameco clawed up 8 to finish at $34.78. Aur Resources was down 4% of value, losing 15 to close at $3.60, and after the market close announced a small loss (US$300,000) for the first quarter of 2003. A one-off charge of US$4.3 million arising out of a US$125-million note issue in March put the quarter into the red.

Volume champion off the indexes was Wheaton River Minerals, which slipped 2 to $1.33 on a volume of 3 million shares.

Canada’s junior exchange remained virtually flat as investors appeared unwilling to put new money into speculative issues. The TSX Venture Exchange composite index gained 1.01 points, or 0.1%, and closed at 1,044.95.

IBI caught the eye of traders, gaining 1 to close at 4 on nearly 1.2 million shares traded. The junior holds the Namekara vermiculite deposit in eastern Uganda. Production began in 2001 at a rate of 40,000 tonnes per year.

New Shoshoni Ventures added 2 to close at 46 on 434,866 shares traded. The junior has sent in one holes of a recently completed 3-hole program over the DB-2 kimberlite near the Drybones Bay kimberlite in the Northwest Territories for analysis.

Newly minted Bear Creek Mining, formerly EVEolution Ventures, gained 3 to close at 83 on 496,500 shares traded. The company resumed trading on Tuesday and soared 54, or 180%. The David Lowell-led company is focusing its efforts on gold exploration in Peru. The company completed a public offering on April 1st that consisted of 12 million units priced at US50 per unit for a gross proceeds of US$6 million.

Spider Resources continued to dominate the trading floor, adding 2 on the session to close at 15 on nearly 1.3 million shares. The junior and joint venture partner, over the counter-listed, KWG Resources recently reported more massive sulphide intercepts on their Spider #3 base metal prospect in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario. Hole 2 on the project yielded 0.53 % copper over 12.3 metres in the semi-massive sulphide zone and the massive sulphide zinc section came back 5.45% zinc over 5.35 metres.