STOCK MARKETS — TSE remains quiet as spot gold price slips

Although the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index added a fraction, the TSE had a quiet week, with both mining indexes moving lower.

For the four trading days ended Sept. 5, the composite moved up 8.29 points to close at 4560.15, a gain of 0.2% from a week ago. Continued strength in the dollar has allowed the Bank of Canada to ease its lending rates, but there appears to be little movement from large investors, who may be expecting additional increases in the dollar and more cuts to the bank rate.

Tuesday’s Treasury Bill auction left the bank rate at 6.53%, down six basis points from last week. The Loony fell only slightly against the U.S. dollar, the yen and the major European currencies. Investor confidence in the currency has been rebounding for most of the summer on the strength of good fiscal and political news.

The spot gold price for Sept. 6 was US$379 per oz., down $2.90 on the week. Silver prices also fell, by about 5%, on London and New York markets. TSE gold and precious metals stocks followed the commodities, with the sector index down 175.07 points, or 1.7%, to 10,480.08.

Hemlo Gold and Placer Dome both lost 75 cents, with Hemlo closing at $12.50 and Placer at $35.25. Barrick Gold closed at $34.12, down 25 cents. Echo Bay lost 63 cents, settling at $14. Cambior was alone in bucking the trend, adding 12 cents to close at $14.50.

Nickel was the biggest loser in base metal markets. Tuesday spot prices, at US$3.81, were 17 cents lower than the week before. Other base metals lost only fractionally. The TSE metals and minerals exchange was down 93.12 points, or 1.9%, to close at 4,953.77.

Among the heaviest traders was Inco, which was unchanged from last Tuesday at $48.63. Falconbridge, also sensitive to nickel prices, lost 38 cents to close at $29.38, and Sherritt was down 12 cents to $16.38. Noranda was off $1.12 to close at $27.38 and subsidiary Brunswick moved in lock-step, losing 50 cents to close at $14.38.

Audrey Resources, looking at a bid from Cambior, declined 8 cents to close at $1.44. Cambior’s bid is for $1.40 per share, or one Cambior share for every 10.5 shares of Audrey. Based on last Tuesday’s closing prices, the share exchange has a market value of $1.38 per share. Cambior owns 75% of Audrey.

Black Hawk Mining tacked on 4 cents to finish at 89 cents. The junior reported encouraging results from its Hoyle Twp. property near Timmins, Ont., where three new drill holes intersected gold mineralization along the eastern strike extension of a zone discovered this spring. Another hole drilled for infill coverage indicated continuity between holes drilled earlier this summer.

Freewest Resources and Alberta-listed Detector Resources discovered gold mineralization from trenching at their Camking property near Matachewan, Ont. Freewest was up 13 cents to 69 cents, while Detector climbed 1 cents to 21 cents.

Another pairing that announced exploration results was Comaplex Minerals and VSE-listed Cumberland Resources. Drilling at their Meliadine gold project near Rankin Inlet, N.W.T., indicated higher grades on the Discovery deposit and intersected a new mineralized zone. Comaplex was 11 cents higher at 75 cents on the week, with Cumberland adding 12 cents to $2.

Miramar Mining and subsidiary Northern Orion Explorations (VSE) released reserve figures of 15 million tonnes grading 1.35% copper for their Mantua deposit in Cuba. Miramar closed at $7.38, off 12 cents, and Northern Orion was down 38 cents to $5.87.

Greenstone Resources added 15 cents to close Tuesday at $3.75. It announced it was selling its Oronorte gold producer in Colombia to Fischer-Watt Gold Co. in exchange for Fischer-Watt’s share in the holding company that owns the San Andres gold project in Honduras.

Waddy Lake Resources and Golden Rule Resources, with a merger in the works and a production decision imminent on their Komis gold deposit in Saskatchewan, went their separate ways on the board. Waddy Lake lost 9 cents to close at 81 cents and Golden Rule picked up 10 cents to close at $1.70.