Trading Summary (December 31, 2001)

The Toronto Stock Exchange had a quiet day, with light trading ending in a 13.44-point gain for the TSE 300 composite index. The TSE 300 closed at 7,688.41, with the golds leading the way.

The gold and precious minerals index was up 80.59 points, closing at 5,076.01 for a gain of 1.6% on the day.

Almost all the indexed golds gained. Barrick Gold added 30 to finish at $25.45 and Placer Dome was 45 higher at $17.40. The big percentage gainer was Kinross Gold, which added 8 to end the day at $1.19, and palladium producer North American Palladium shot up 49 to finish at $9.34.

Except for a salvo from Normandy Mining, it was all quiet on the Normandy front today, but major shareholder Franco-Nevada Mining was 45 higher at $23.55.

The metals and minerals index slipped along with the broad market, closing 17.42 points lower at 4,160.11. Alcan was the big loser, with shres off 66 at $57.15.

The nickel miners were both stronger, Falconbridge adding 19 to close at $16.09 and Inco picking up 20 to close at $27.05. Noranda was also higher at $15, a gain of 12.

Canada’s junior exchange extended its holiday rally led by a shares of junior explorers. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index gained 17.87 points, or 1.8% to close at 1036.54.

Muskox Minerals soared 21 on news that the junior inked a divestiture and option agreement with privately owned Archean Energy. Under the terms of the deal, Archean will purchase all of Muskox’s geophysical data and 50% of its properties in Nunavut for $20 million. Muskox ended the year at 42 on 121,000 shares.

Hornby Bay Exploration added 4 to end the day at 23 on 248,000 shares. The junior holds 100% of the Asiak diamond property some 30 km along strike from Ashton Mining of Canada’s Artemisia kimberlite pipe in Nunavut, which yielded 342 microdiamonds and 38 macrodiamonds from a 103.2 kg sample.

The latest drill results from the Cordero gallium project in Nevada propelled shares in Gold Canyon Resources higher. The junior ended the day up 25 to $1.45 on 130,700 shares. Hole 15 returned the highest grades encountered to date with individual samples ranging up to 300 grams gallium per tonne. Overall the entire hole averaged 126.5 metres grading 46 grams gallium.

Northern Empire Minerals continued its late year surge climbing another 12 to close at 82 on 262,055 shares. The junior, along with partners Chilean Gold, Stornoway Ventures, Wind River Resources and International Samuel Exploration inked a deal to earn a 20% stake in the Jubilee diamond property in Nunavut.

Starfield Resources moved high on news that a $1.6 million financing has been arranged and drilling on the Ferguson Lake copper-nickel-platinum-palladium property would resume early in the New Year. The company also reported that hole 101 returned 2.74 gram rhodium, to go along with the 103 gram palladium and 26.7 gram platinum over 0.35 metre. The company ended the year up 8 at 60 on 196,466 shares.