TSE suffers holiday blues as gold claws back

The Toronto Stock Exchange composite index moved sideways over the holiday-shortened June 25-July 1 report period, finishing at 6,983.14, for a loss of 74 basis points.

Gold regained some of the ground it lost in the previous period, advancing US$3.35 to a London morning fix of US$351.20 per oz. on July 2. Nevertheless, Kinross Gold, Canada’s third-largest producer of the yellow metal, slipped 19 to $8.83 on a volume of 5.1 million shares, making it the most active resource stock. Meanwhile, Placer Dome rose 69, to $16.24, and Barrick Gold inched ahead 2, to $23.70.

Meridian Gold ended the period 4 ahead, and by presstime had jumped another $1.23. On July 2, the mid-tier producer released an exploration update for its El Penon gold mine in Chile, noting that the Quebrada Colorada Norte zone has been extended 250 metres north of existing resources, bringing its overall strike length to 560 metres. Recent results included upwards of 81 grams gold and 960 grams silver per tonne over 1.2-2.6 metres of true width.

In a similar vein, Bemo Gold rose a penny over the week, and had climbed 16 by presstime on news it had confirmed the existence of a high-grade epithermal gold system at its Kupol property in Russia. Highlights from the first 16 of 43 holes drilled include 65 grams gold and 1,021 grams silver over 18.3 metres. The vein, which now measures 2 km long by 250 metres deep, was discovered by Russian explorers and remains open along strike and at depth.

Cambior climbed 6, to $1.79, on news it had intersected more mineralization in the J zone at its Doyon underground gold mine in northwestern Quebec. Infill hole J20 ran 20 grams over 6.2 metres, 7 grams over 7.6 metres, and 5 grams over 4.2 metres, while hole J40 ran 16 grams over 3.3 metres and 7 grams over 3 metres. Also, an exploration hole drilled southeast of the zone intersected an alteration halo averaging 6 grams over 3 metres. Based on results obtained to date, Cambior has chosen to drive a drift on Level 14 toward the new structures and proceed to sink an additional 10,000 metres of definition drilling. Based on a 25% dilution factor, the J zone hosts 356,000 tonnes of inferred resources grading 7.5 grams.

Inco was the volume leader among base metal producers, rising 71 as about 3.9 million shares changed hands. Next came Aur Resources, which jumped 12 to $3.44 on a volume of 1.47 million shares. Aur has cleared its debt to Teck Cominco relating to the purchase of the latter’s 76.5% interest in the Quebrada Blanca copper mine in Chile.

Diamond explorer Ashton Mining of Canada was the highest percentage gainer of the period, leaping $1.43, to $2.56, for a 126.5% increase in value. The company and its equal partner, Soquem, picked a 4-carat stone from core drilled at their Renard 65 kimberlite pipe in the Otish Mountains of Quebec. The core is being prepared for dense-media-separation analysis.