STOCK MARKETS — Royal Oak trades heavily in wake of Giant

Vancouver-based Royal Oak Mines took the top trading spot on The Toronto Stock Exchange during the week ended Sept. 22, dropping 10 cents to $1.96 on a volume of 4.4 million shares.

The gold producer made national headlines when an underground explosion killed nine miners at its Giant gold mine in Yellowknife, N.W.T. Police are treating the incident as a multiple homicide.

Today, Sept. 23, the gold producer shed another penny to $1.95 in a 52-week range of 75 cents-$2.62. President Peggy Witte told The Northern Miner the mine would be reopened in a matter of days. She said the explosion caused less than $10,000 in damage.

In the wake of the disaster, BP Canada withdrew its secondary offering of 5.5 million shares of Royal Oak at $2.10 per share. BP acquired the stock when it sold the Hope Brook gold mine in Newfoundland to Royal Oak.

Fellow gold producer Placer Dome was also a heavy trader, picking up 38 cents to $13.25 as 3.7 million shares changed hands. The international miner has closed a deal that allows it to become a 50% joint venture partner in Outokumpu’s 560-million-tonne copper deposit in Chile. Encouraging news also arrived from Nevada, where Royal Gold and Placer have resolved litigation over the Pipeline gold project.

Reaching a new high of $31.50 during the report period was Franco-Nevada Mining. The Toronto-based royalty collector has purchased a 6% NPI covering the western extension of American Barrick Resources’ Goldstrike gold mine in Nevada.

Franco-Nevada closed up $1 at $31. Barrick gained 13 cents at $38.75. The gold price was volatile, but finally settled at US$349.15 in London for a gain of US$3.25. Today, gold lost some of those gains, dropping almost $1 to $348.25.

On the broad market, stocks plummetted as the Canadian dollar slipped to a 4-year low amid constitutional uncertainty. The TSE composite 300 index dropped 151 points to 3402.82, while the metals and minerals index lost 44 points.

The TSE 300 recovered somewhat today, gaining 1.5 points as 30.5 million shares changed hands.

Picking up 62 cents to $20.25, Noranda announced today that it will curtail all exploration activities in Wisconsin and close the office it has maintained in the state for 20 years. In what looks like a political move designed to stress its opposition to Wisconsin’s permitting procedures, Noranda issued a press release saying it will also suspend all baseline studies on the Lynne zinc deposit.

“Our decision is part of an overall effort to focus our exploration activities on those states with a proven and predictable permitting environment and regions that encourage mineral development,” says Mike Donnelly, exploration manager for the U.S.

Rumors continue to circulate about the potential of CDN-listed White Star Copper Mines’ property next to the Kidd Creek copper-zinc mine at Timmins, Ont. Observers are awaiting results of recent drilling on the property by joint venture partner Falconbridge, which has reportedly collared a new 7,000-ft. hole. But it has been unusually tight-lipped about the property since the summer drilling program got under way.

White Star closed at $1.25 for a gain of 5 cents on a volume of 277,425 shares.

The CDN market as a whole is expected to benefit from a change in reporting procedures. Effective Oct. 1, all trades must be reported within three minutes of the transaction. Currently, this information is not available until the next trading day.

Westfort Petroleums led the diamond stocks in terms of trading volume, picking up one penny to 11 cents as 1.3 million shares changed hands. Drilling is expected to begin on nearby ground held by Aber Resources, SouthernEra Resources and Commonwealth Gold by the end of the month. Aber shed 4 cents to $2.14. SouthernEra gained 14 cents to $1.94.