ECU most active trader during skittish week.

Vancouver — Mining stocks continued to move and shake on Canada’s junior exchange during opening days of 2003. The S&P composite index closed up 43.08 points, or 4.1% of its value, to finish the week ended Jan. 7 at 1,095.37.

ECU Silver Mining was the most actively traded miner, gaining 2 to close at 11 with 6.8 million shares crossing the floor. The company holds the Mexican project known as Velardena, which has a total resource of 2.5 million tonnes grading 2.8 grams gold and 269 grams silver per tonne.

Oasis Diamond Exploration added 6 to its value and closed at 12 on 5.1 million shares. Oasis Diamond and Arctic Star Diamond have outlined two priority targets on their Enigma property in Wawa, Ont. Drilling is expected to begin this winter. Arctic Star closed at 46, down a nickel on 435,000 shares.

Coral Gold lost 2 and finished the week at 62 with 3.4 million shares traded. Coral has a rig turning on the property, which adjoins the Pipeline gold mine in Nevada.

Hunter-Dickinson-led Amarc Resources jumped 6 and closed at 30 with just over 3 million shares changing hands. The company could think of no reason for the increased activity except perhaps for a speculative buy rating placed on the stock by a newsletter writer. Amarc holds ground in the Inde mining district of Mexico, as well as in Manitoba.

A nice percentage gainer, Quaterra Resources closed up 4 to 10 with almost 2.5 million shares crossing the floor. The company holds the Duke Island copper/nickel/ platinum-group-metal property in Alaska and, at last report, had identified nine discrete anomalies. Drilling is planned for the spring.

International Wayside Gold Mines finished the week flat at 17 with 2.1 million shares traded. The company announced a non-brokered private placement of 1 million units priced at 15 each. A unit consists of one share and one warrant. The attached warrants are priced at 20 per share and are exercisable for a year. A portion of the financing will be used for exploration at its Cariboo gold project, near Wells, B.C.

American Bonanza Gold Mining found a penny and closed at 26 on a volume of 2.1 million shares. Investors are awaiting results from an 8-hole drill program at the Pamlico project in Nevada. The work was designed to confirm and expand mineralization encountered previously in the underground workings in the Central Mine area and at the northwestern end of the Main zone.

Kalahari Resources closed at 12, up 2 on 1.7 million shares. The company holds several prospective gold properties in Ontario and Quebec.

Desert Sun Mining jumped 16 and closed at 97 on 1.4 million shares. The company recently set up a technical review advisory committee to provide strategic and technical guidance for the Jacobina gold property in Brazil.

Cardero Resources rocketed 38 to $2.39 on 1.2 million shares. The company closed a non-brokered private placement of 2.2 million units priced at $1.30 per unit, raising $2.9 million. The money will be used to fund exploration of the junior’s Providencia and Chingolo projects in Argentina, as well as Mexican properties.