Trading Summary (August 07, 2002)

After opening higher on Wednesday, Toronto stocks moved quickly into the red and ended there. The golds and base metal issues were immune to the slide gaining 1.8% and 1.05%, respectively. Despite a late-day, mini-rally, the S&P/TSX Composite Index finished off 32.43 points or 0.5% at 6,486.73 points.

With gold soaring US$ 8.90 per oz. to end the day at US$314.10 per oz. in New York, the gold stocks saw mostly gains. Kinross Gold was the most heavily traded of the group rising 11 to $2.90 on a trading volume of about 6.7 million shares. Climbing onto the TSX’s top ten traded list was Eldorado Gold, which suffered a late-afternoon selloff finishing 3 lighter at $1.16 on about half as many shares.

Eldorado recently posted second-quarter earnings of US$1.9 million (or 1 per share) on revenue of US$9.3 million, compared with a year-ago loss of US$1.2 million (1 per share) on US$8.8 million. For the first half of 2002, net earnings were US$2.3 million (2 per share) on US$15.2 million, compared with the year-ago loss of US$2.3 million (2 per share) on US$18.1 million.

Barrick Gold and Placer Dome rounded out the golds on the top ten traded list. Barrick advanced hall a buck to $24.40 and Placer grew by 29 to $13.64. Both saw more than 2 million shares change hands. On Wednesday, Placer extended to Aug. 16, its hostile bid for gold miner AurionGold. The Aussie miner continues to reject Placer’s offer even in its cash-boosted form. By late on Tuesday, Placer’s offer had received about 21% of AurionGold’s shares, ranking the Canadian gold miner AurionGold’s new major shareholder.

Also seeing some action was Echo Bay mines. The junior grabbed 12 or nearly 9% to make $1.50 with more than a million shares crossing the floor. The third member of a proposed merger triad involving Echo Bay and Kinross, TVX Gold, added 83 to reach $18.47 with just 255,941 shares traded.

Alcan was the busiest base metal miner growing by 43 to settle at $41.40. Others on the rise were Aur Resources, plus 15 to $3.15, Noranda, 6 higher at $15.81, Falconbridge edged up 2 pennies to $15.92, and Teck Cominco tacked on 14 to make $10.35.

Zinc miner Breakwater Resources fell 2 to 15.5, returning much of its recent gains. Breakwater recently posted second-quarter net earnings of $2.4 million (or a penny per share), compared with a year-ago net loss of $1.3 million (1 per share). Revenue between the two periods climbed 6% to $60.9 million.

Vancouver — Junior resource stocks started to make a comeback with the rising price of gold bullion as the US contends with the prospects of a double dip recession. The TSX Venture Exchange composite index closed up 7.32 points, or 0.716%, and finished the day at 1037.74.

IBI Corp. was the leading resource trader with 2.3 million shares changing hands. The company owns and operates a vermiculite mine located in the Mbale region of south-east Uganda, near the Kenyan border. IBI recently inked a deal for to sell $2.6 million worth of its medium grade Vermiculite. Weekly shipments are anticipated to commence this month.

Platinum Group Metals jumped 6 and closed the day at 85 on 686,831 shares. The company released drill results from its Lac des Iles platinum and Palladium project in the Thunder Bay Mining District of Northwestern Ontario. Highlights include a 19.2-metre intercept that averaged 0.157 gram platinum and 0.827 gram palladium as well as a 13.65 metre interval that averaged 0.238 gram platinum and 1.219 grams palladium.

Glencairn Explorations lost 3 and closed at 43 on 418,000 shares. The company and its joint venture partners Northern Empire Minerals and Stornoway Ventures are in the midst of a $475,000 exploration program on the Aviat diamond project. situated on the Melville Peninsula in Nunavut.