Bench mark, golds and base metals raised a notch

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s Composite Index traded in a narrow range over the Aug. 7-13 report period to finish modestly ahead, at 6,528.98 points. The benchmark is nearly 10 points higher than a week earlier, or 0.15%.

Gold had a similar week, rising and falling as it did but ending somewhat stronger at US$316.25 per oz. on the morning of Aug. 14. That fix is US$8.45 greater than the one London set seven days previously.

Where bullion goes, producers follow: the gold index climbed 7.92 points to 171.79. Heavyweights Barrick Gold and Placer Dome were among the gainers, rising 56 to $24.88, and 60 to $14, respectively.

By the period’s start, Placer had amassed 26% of Australian takeover target AurionGold; by the end, it had amassed 27.5%. The offer was to have ended Aug. 16 and, at presstime, remained: 17.5 Placer Dome shares for every 100 AurionGold shares plus A35 per AurionGold share.

Among small producers crowd, Northgate Explorations was pulled back 9 to $1.39 after failing to cheer during the second act. The company lost US$12 million in the three months ended June 30, mostly because a large portion of the hedge book had been closed.

High River Gold, on the other hand, was shoved ahead 16 to $1.74 as it clapped $2 million together. Although small, the quarterly profit compares with a loss of $1.7 million in the corresponding period last year, when the company had less interest in the Buryatzoloto operations in eastern Russia.

Lead escaped the period unscathed, but copper, zinc and nickel were slightly tarnished. Nevertheless, the TSX Diversified Metals and Minerals Index edged ahead 3.58 points, to 116.19.

Inco was the most active of the bunch, climbing $1.10 to $26.10 on a volume of 5.3 million shares. Next came Teck Cominco‘s B-series, which rose 54 to $10.75 as 2.5 million shares changed hands.

Also making gains were: Noranda, up 77 at $16.51; Falconbridge, up 75 at $16.65; and Aur Resources, up 25 at $3.25. Going the opposite way were Sheritt International, which fell 20 to $4.76, and Cameco, which slipped 15 to $28.85. Lionore Mining coasted through the period at $3.85.

Junior Pure Gold Minerals stayed put at 9 despite announcing the intersection of more kimberlite at the Tichegami property in the Otish Mountains region of northern Quebec. Although results are pending, the dyke-like body is not considered part of the barren kimberlite breccia intersected last spring, some 350 metres to the southeast.

Virginia Gold Mines, which slipped a nickel to 87, has launched a 19-hole drill program at the half-owned Poste Lemoyne gold property in the James Bay area of northwestern Quebec. Drilling will test the strike and downdip projections of the Orfee zone, where more than 34 grams have been assayed over 9 metres of core.