Trading Summary (December 18, 2003)

Toronto stocks ended Thursday’s trading session 84.49 points higher at 8,124.66 points. The diversified miners jumped 4.95 points, or 2.3% to a new 52-week high of 221.79, while the golds managed to creep up 0.36 of a point to 223.61.

Sherritt International ended the day as the nation’s busiest mining issue gaining 57, or 8.4%, to a new year-high of $7.32. Junior Constellation Copper was next in line with 5.6 million shares ending unchanged at 8.5. An independent study recently concluded that Constellation’s Cashin copper deposit could be economically mined by trucking run-of-mine ore to the nearby Lisbon Valley property in Utah. Wheaton River Minerals finished in third spot, a penny higher at $3.67 on about 4.1 million shares.

Shares in Pacific Rim Mining were trimmed by 2 to $1.63. On Wednesday, the company posted a net loss of $1.7 million (or 2 per share) for the three months ended October 31. On Thursday, Pac Rim said it has acquired two new early-stage gold projects in Nevada. The Aurora project borders Metallic Ventures‘ Esmerelda project and comes with a price tag of US$ 850,000 plus a 3% net smelter return royalty, 2% of which can be bought back for US$2 million. The company also staked the Sure Fire project situated along the Northern Nevada rift in Crescent Valley, Nevada.

Almaden Minerals dipped 8, or nearly 4%, to $1.97. The company has arranged for a geophysical survey on a 20-km-long kimberlitic indicator mineral train on the MacKay Lake project in the Northwest Territories.

On Thursday, Orvana Minerals posted a net loss of US$470,480 on revenue of US$3 million. At the end of September, the company had US$30 million in assets and shareholders’ equity of $10.8 million.

Canada’s junior exchange extended its recent losing streak despite advancing stocks edging out declining stocks 427 to 425. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 4.15 points, or 0.25%, and closed at 1,654.34 with 64 million shares traded.

Pelangio Mines closed flat at 45 with 2.3 million shares traded. The junior is gearing up for a 10,000 metre drill program over its Detour Lake properties in northwestern Ontario. On the surrounding optioned Block A property, which is immediately west of the Detour Mine property fellow junior

Coronation Minerals closed at 31, down 14 with 1.1 million shares traded. The company and its joint venture partner Guyana Goldfields have discovered high grade copper-silver samples in the area of the Strike Lake Fault zone at its Coppermine River project in Nunavut. The first grab sample graded 33.8% copper and 17.2 grams silver per tonne. Guyana Goldfields closed at $1.03, down 6 with 55,000 shares traded.

Investors sold off shares in IMA Exploration following news of the first four holes into the Navidad project in Patagonia, Argentina. The drill holes tested two areas approximately 1,200 metres apart at the Navidad Hill and Galena Hill targets. At Navidad Hill, hole NV03-01 intersected 68.4 metres grading 111.1 grams silver per tonne. On the same section, hole NV03-02 intersected 48 metres averaging 97.8 grams silver. Shares in the junior dropped 23 and closed at $1.57 on a volume of 1.08 million.