Toronto Stock Exchange December 9-15

A slight improvement in commodities prices helped offset the losses for the S&P/TSX composite index over the Dec. 9-15 trading period. The benchmark fell 105 points or 1.2%, to finish at about 8,462 points.

Steep losses in the financial sector came on concerns that the economy may continue to contract, despite a lending rate cut by the Bank of Canada to its lowest level since 1958. Energy stocks fared poorly on worries that OPEC production cuts would not be enough to bolster prices as fuel consumption falls. And even Prime Minister Stephen Harper admitted he was worried about Canada’s economy.

But the Capped Metals and Mining index surged 13% to 231.2 points and the Global Gold index rose by an even better 17% to 286.7 points.

At the top of the pile were the regular heavyweights. Agnico-Eagle Mines shares climbed $12.78 to $52.50 after doling out fairly conservative guidance for 2009. The company expects gold production to double to 590,000 oz. — a 13% drop from earlier 2009 projections. Cash costs are expected to be around US$325 per oz. compared with previous guidance of US$175 per oz. Production is expected to increase to 1.2 million oz. gold in 2010.

Other gainers included Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, which climbed $8.60 to $85.59, Newmont Mining which was up $7.61 to $46.89, and Barrick Gold, climbing $6.29 to $40.64.

Teck was one of the most active miners, recovering by $1.40 to $5.65 apiece on a trading volume of 66.7 million shares. The company announced it will be shutting down its Pend Oreille zinc mine in Washington state early next year. Pend Oreille has been losing money for two years and Teck is grappling with US$10 billion in debt from its purchase of Fording Canadian Coal Trust.

On the losing side was HudBay Minerals, which is still ironing out its controversial merger deal with Lundin Mining. HudBay shares shed 40¢ to $3.35 apiece.

Orezone Resources was also among the most active, with 58.4 million shares traded. The stock rose 231% to 53¢ after Iamgold bid US$139 million for the West Africa-focused company. Iamgold is interested in Orezone’s Essakane project, which hosts reserves of 3.1 million oz. gold.

San Anton Resource jumped 460% over the period to 28¢ on no apparent news, but at presstime, had gained another 10¢ to 38¢ on

drill results from its Cerro del Gallo project in Mexico. Highlights include 119 metres grading 0.17% copper, 0.04 gram gold and 30 grams silver per tonne, including 9 metres of 0.14% copper and 7 metres of 0.16% copper.

NovaGold Resources shares got a 186% boost on no news to $1.69 per share over the period, after plunging to a 52-week low of 45¢ weeks earlier from a high of $12.38 in January.

TSX most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Blue Note Mng	BN	77133	0.04	0.02	0.03	0.00
Yamana Gold	YRI	75830	8.32	6.30	8.08	+ 1.51
Teck B	TCKB	66672	6.38	4.20	5.65	+ 1.40
Orezone Res	OZN	58461	0.57	0.14	0.53	+ 0.37
Uranium One	UUU	52227	1.54	1.04	1.42	+ 0.32
Eastern Platin	ELR	36751	0.36	0.25	0.31	+ 0.04
Kinross Gold	K	29876	21.57	18.25	20.75	+ 1.88
Eldorado Gold	ELD	27101	8.59	6.11	8.18	+ 1.92
Goldcorp	G	26812	37.75	29.80	36.38	+ 6.10
Barrick Gold	ABX	25219	41.44	33.81	40.64	+ 6.29

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
San Anton Res	SNN	834	0.28	0.05	0.28	+460.0
Orezone Res	OZN	58461	0.57	0.14	0.53	+231.2
NovaGold Res	NG	8903	2.02	0.55	1.69	+186.4
Centerra Gold	CG	2173	4.75	1.82	4.75	+144.8
Teal Expl & Mg	TL	19	0.71	0.26	0.70	+133.3
Inter-Citic Mn	ICI	955	0.43	0.17	0.42	+133.3
Gold Reserve	GRZ	1869	0.79	0.29	0.73	+108.5
Cancor Mines	KCR	1494	0.03	0.01	0.02	+100.0
Intl Minls Crp	IMZ	1175	2.40	1.25	2.39	+ 91.2
Guyana Gldflds	GUY	1333	1.68	0.80	1.60	+ 88.2
Tiger Res	TGS	38	0.02	0.02	0.02	-92.3
African Copper	ACU	8484	0.04	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Vaaldiam Res	VAA	3765	0.02	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Coalcorp Mng	CCJ	1529	0.45	0.20	0.23	-39.4
Katanga Mng	KAT	3623	0.56	0.30	0.32	-37.2
Foraco Intl	FAR	154	0.75	0.45	0.45	-36.6
Horizns G Bear	HGD	18403	4.07	2.52	2.68	-31.9
Coro Mining	COP	1431	0.13	0.09	0.09	-30.7
Malaga	MLG	2055	0.10	0.07	0.07	-30.0
Stingray Coppr	SRY	1282	0.30	0.19	0.20	-28.5

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	10482216	52.20	+ 12.78
Potash Cp Sask	POT	11873034	85.59	+ 8.60
Newmont Mng	NMC	267497	46.89	+ 7.61
Barrick Gold	ABX	25219013	40.64	+ 6.29
IShCOMEXGTr	IGT	32062	101.88	+ 6.21
Goldcorp	G	26811647	36.38	+ 6.10
Agrium	AGU	8516056	37.84	+ 4.49
Silver Std Res	SSO	602650	15.58	+ 4.24
Central Gold-T	GTU_U	30740	42.11	+ 3.41
Pan Am Silver	PAA	1187530	18.05	+ 3.30
Horizns G Bear	HGD	18403146	2.68	-1.26
Teck A	TCKA	30645	7.95	-0.79
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF_U	902161	19.70	-0.64
Timminco	TIM	1629388	3.82	-0.58
HudBay Minls	HBM	9611934	3.35	-0.40
Forsys Metals	FSY	1632328	4.90	-0.37
Foraco Intl	FAR	154300	0.45	-0.26
Tiger Res	TGS	37500	0.02	-0.24
Katanga Mng	KAT	3623233	0.32	-0.19
Mag Silver	MAG	429237	5.55	-0.17