Trading Summary (November 11, 2003)

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s gold index managed to claw back 0.72 of a point to end at 205.84 on Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough to help keep the S&P/TSX composite index from falling another 43.22 to end at 7,772.24. The main culprit in the broader market’s slide was the mining and metals index, which plummeted 4.74 points, or 2.5%, to 185.21.Eastmain Resources put in a nice performance surging 22, or nearly 40%, to hit 78, heights no seen for about four years. On Tuesday, the junior announced an alliance with mid-tier producer GoldCorp. For their part, GoldCorp shares dropped 42 to $20.01.

Leading the base metal miners lower was Ivanhoe Mines, which shed 90, or 7.5%, to make $11.15. On Monday, Ivanhoe reported that the high-grade core of the Hugo Dummet deposit had doubled in size. Hugo Dummet is the largest of four copper-gold deposits that make up the company’s Turquoise Hill project in Mongolia. Nevertheless, Ivanhoe sunk $3.06 to $11.15, partly reflecting a Forbes article in which the company and chairman, Robert Friedland, are reportedly taken to task. Trading volumes were heavy.

Canada’s junior exchange closed up slightly higher over yesterday despite declining stocks having beaten advancing ones by a margin of 42. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index closed up 3.78 points at 1,602.48, with 58.4 million shares changing hands.

Plexmar Resources

was the most active on the index, rising a nickel on a volume of about 1.4 million shares. The company recently inked a deal to earn a 100% interest in the Cascajal gold-silver project in Peru, where a previous operator outlined an inferred resource of 862,760 tonnes grading 4.93 grams gold and 246 grams silver per tonne.

American Gold Capital shot up $1.35, or 118%, to a new 52-week high of $2.50. On Monday, the company agreed to acquire the Metates gold-silver exploration property in Mexico’s Durango state in return for the issuance of 12 million shares to a subsidiary of Wheaton River Minerals., a subsidiary of Glamis Gold, and by Endeavour Financial International.

Crown Point Ventures took one the heavier hits on the burse, falling 32 to 58 , for a loss of nearly 36% of value. The loss came on no news.