Market Summary

The golds and base metals stocks on Canada’s major bourse ended the trading week by posting big losses. The gold index slumped 3.97 points or 2.4% to make 161.92, while the metals & mining index dropped 2.66 points or 2.1% to hit 122.36. Overall, the S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 113.45 points to end at 6,614.34 points.

Placer Dome ranked as Canada’s most traded miner advancing 36 to $13.90 on a trading volume of 4.4 million shares. Barrick Gold dropped 60 to $23.19 and Kinross Gold ended 7 lower at $2.55, with Wheaton River adding a penny to $1 even, to round out the TSX’s top ten traded list.

Alcan was the most heavily traded of the base metal issues falling 94 to $44.56 on about 914,000shares.

Canada’s junior exchange earned back some of its recent losses. The TSX Venture Exchange composite index added 11.17 points, or 1.12%, to its value and closed at 1008.85 with 19 million shares traded.

Pan Asia Mining was the most active resource issue with 329,000 shares crossing the floor. Despite the volume the junior’s issue remained flat at 3. Pan Asia is exploring for diamonds on four parcels of land in the southern part of the Shandong province in China. The junior is planning a work program that will consist of further soil sampling, high-resolution magnetic and resistivity surveys, and, if warranted, pitting, trenching and drilling of the most favourable sites.

Newcastle Minerals lost a penny and closed at 20 with 256,000 shares. The junior stands to earn a 100% interest in 1,500 ha of Gossan gold-bearing mineral claims located in the Liard Mining District of northwestern British Columbia. The property is subject to a 2% net smelter returns royalty.

Commerce Resources lost 2 and closed at 8 on 251,500 shares. Last month the company kicked off its summer exploration program at the company’s Fir and Verity Tantalum-Niobium projects located near Blue River, British Columbia. Exploration will focus on an initial drill program at the Fir Carbonatite where prior work has outlined an inferred resource of 5.2 million tonnes grading 194 grams Ta2O5, 897 grams Nb2O5 per tonne, and 3.50% P2O5.

Gallery Resources remained flat at 14 with 225,500 shares traded. The company is actively exploring eastern Canada and holds the mineral rights to 4 principal exploration properties in Newfoundland and Labrador, namely the Okak Bay, Katie, LERQ and Cabot Lake properties. The company also has 22 mineral claims in the Cariboo Mining District in British Columbia.