Toronto Stock Exchange Grenges slides after Tartan Lake woes made

It’s been a quiet week on the Toronto market. Gold managed to gain a couple of dollars today pushing the Gold Index up 60 points, but the overall drift has been sideways. With interest rates going up, the stock market has become a place for quiet contemplation.

The market is still undecided whether the future will be bullish or bearish. The TSE 300 composite index was up a measly 1.87 points today, up less than half a point from a week ago, to close at 3345.85. The metals and mineral index was down about five points during the week to close at 2,822.65 while the gold index managed a 14-pt gain on the week to close today at 6,690.64.

An example of just how uncertain this market is comes from Richardson Greenshields, one of the largest retail brokerage firms in the business. It recently put out reports from two different analysts, both dated the same day. The conclusion of one reads, in part: “From the wreckage of the crash, a new bull market has emerged.” The conclusion of the other says the opposite: “The sense we have is upside potential remains limited while downside risk is considerable.”

This uncertainly continues despite optimism about the world economy in general. For example, the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook put out in April says world economic growth is expected to continue at about 3% in 1988 and 1989. If Canada’s interest rates keep climbing, however, a resulting stronger dollar could put a damper on our export dependent mining industry.

But the performance of Inco this week certainly doesn’t support that theory. The nickel producer continues to ride the wave of high commodity prices. It reached a new high for the past year of $36.38, although it lost most of that today, to close up 12 cents on the week at $35.25. It was the most active stock with over two million shares changing hands.

Right behind it on the volume leader board was Falconbridge, Canada’s “other” nickel producer that is also well leveraged to copper and zinc. It slipped 12 cents during the week to close at $23.12. Falconbridge President William James didn’t bolster the stock’s performance when he said first quarter results this year were disappointing. The reason is continuing problems at Falconbridge Dominicana in the Caribbean where production has stopped because of a dispute between the company and the government of the Dominican Republic.

One issue that took a beating this week was Granges Exploration. It lost 50 cents today to close at $5 on 251,650 shares for a loss on the week of $1.50. It and partner Abermin are having problems mining ore at the grade they expected at their Tartan Lake gold mine near Flin Flon, Man. What’s more, the mill has been shut down temporarily.

Abermin also suffered this week falling 19 cents to close at 70 cents on 62,50 0 shares.

Cheni Gold, on the other hand, managed to gain 50 cents to close at $5.63. the company has essentially doubled reserves at its Lawyers gold project in northern British Columbia’s Toodoggone area.

Gordex Minerals, a gold producer and heap leach pioneer in Nova Scotia, was another healthy gainer this week. It picked up 45 cents to close at $1.95 on 310,700 shares — good volume for this usually lightly- traded issue.

Another anomaly on the volume board was NSR Resources it was among the 10 most active mining issues on the Toronto market this week but today there were no trades. It closed the week up a nickel at 51 cents on 594,900 shares after briefly touching 60 cents .

Among the senior gold issues, Cambior says it has made a production decision on its wholly-owned Eldrich-Flavell property near Rouyn, Que. The mine is expected to turn out 41,000 oz of gold a year when it reaches full production in 1989. Cambior was down 50 cents on the week to close at $15.25 on 22,200 units traded. American Barrick was down 50 cents at $25.62 on 387,000 shares.