Toronto Stock Exchange -January 12-18

The TSX Composite Index moved lower for the Jan. 12-18 period as oil prices continued to slide on word from OPEC that supplies were strong for the winter period.

Closer to home, markets received some assurance from the Bank of Canada announcement that it would hold rates at the historic low of 0.25%.

And while lower rates continue to stoke inflation fears, gold prices did fall off, if only slightly, for the period. The yellow metal lost roughly US$20 and was trading in the US$1,135 range at presstime. The lower price translated into the Global Gold Index, which fell roughly 20 points to finish at 334.73.

The diversified miners followed the broader material sector down despite stronger base metal prices. The Capped Metals & Mining Index was off 10 points to 1,138.30. Copper, aluminum, nickel, tin and lead prices were all stronger over the period, however, while zinc prices fell, if just a little, finishing at US$1.11 per lb.

The period was a strong one for Eastern Platinum, as development plans and financial results helped make the company the most highly traded of all miners. Eastern Platinum first announced that higher metal prices meant it was re-opening a section of its Crocodile River mine in South Africa’s Bushveld complex. More good news came two days later when the company announced record production from Crocodile, even without the yet to be re-opened section up and running. Eastern Platinum shares finished the period 10¢ higher at $1.42.

Word that Toronto-based Duluth Metals would joint-venture with Chile’s Antofagasta — one of the world’s largest copper producers — sent the junior’s shares up 50% to $3.32 over the period. Duluth, which had been trading for as low as 14¢ less than a year ago, said the partnership will accelerate the development of the Nokomis deposit, a copper-nickel-PGM project in northeastern Minnesota. The deal will bring US$227 million in financing to the project where a pre-feasibility study and a bankable feasibility study are due within the next 36 months.

News that Petaquilla Minerals had achieved commercial production at its Molejon gold mine in Panama, however, was less well received. The company saw its shares fall 18% to 78¢ over the period, perhaps because the mill was only processing 1,500 tonnes per day when it was designed to process 2,200 tonnes.

Petaquilla says reaching 70% of design capacity along with metallurgical recoveries approaching forecasted levels means the mine does qualify as being in commercial production.

An analyst downgrade for Agrium and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan may have been behind the two producers weak performance for the period. Agrium shares were down $5.75 to $65.79, while Potash Corp. was off $7.65 to $119.30.

TSX most active issues
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Eastern Platin	ELR	56788	1.44	1.12	1.42	+ 0.10
Yamana Gold	YRI	26191	13.21	11.75	12.05	-1.08
Paladin Energy	PDN	24077	4.06	3.83	3.87	-0.28
Western C Coal	WTN	20565	4.13	3.61	3.85	-0.38
Farallon Res	FAN	19151	0.63	0.52	0.61	+ 0.02
Tiomin Res	TIO	17696	0.05	0.03	0.04	+ 0.01
Breakwater Res	BWR	16960	0.51	0.47	0.49	-0.01
Mercator Mnls	ML	16169	3.39	2.98	3.27	+ 0.01
New Gold	NGD	15643	4.98	4.36	4.41	-0.53
Coalcorp Mng	CCJ	15348	0.23	0.17	0.19	-0.01

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Labdr Iron Mns	LIM	1936	5.57	3.22	5.57	+ 61.9
Duluth Metals	DM	15016	3.99	2.01	3.32	+ 50.2
Wallbridge Mng	WM	15246	0.39	0.23	0.35	+ 40.0
Franconia Mnls	FRA	3501	0.73	0.48	0.70	+ 37.2
Zazu Metals	ZAZ	1720	0.45	0.30	0.41	+ 36.6
Copper Mesa	CUX	5473	0.09	0.05	0.08	+ 33.3
Tiomin Res	TIO	17696	0.05	0.03	0.04	+ 33.3
Taseko Mines	TKO	10420	5.84	4.28	5.83	+ 30.4
Marengo Mng	MRN	28	0.18	0.14	0.18	+ 28.5
Velocity Minls	VLC	316	0.20	0.17	0.20	+ 25.0
Australn Solom	SGA	40	0.25	0.23	0.23	-25.8
Ursa Major Min	UMJ	296	0.12	0.09	0.10	-23.0
Niocan Inc	NIO	46	0.30	0.25	0.25	-21.8
Moneta Porcpn	ME	1236	0.40	0.29	0.31	-20.5
Mediterrn Res	MNR	1256	0.16	0.11	0.13	-18.7
Petaquilla Mnl	PTQ	3099	0.97	0.75	0.78	-17.8
Aura Mnls	ORA	4636	4.96	4.13	4.20	-15.8
Intl Nickel Vn	INV	266	1.12	0.90	0.95	-15.1
Guyana Gldflds	GUY	2345	7.97	6.77	6.90	-14.9
Yukon-Nev Gold	YNG	3528	0.31	0.26	0.26	-13.3

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
First Quantum	FM	2328144	99.79	+ 5.04
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF_U	532066	50.00	+ 3.20
Labdr Iron Mns	LIM	1936369	5.57	+ 2.13
Comaplex Mnrl	CMF	1422854	8.74	+ 1.49
Taseko Mines	TKO	10419556	5.83	+ 1.36
Duluth Metals	DM	15015741	3.32	+ 1.11
FronteerDevG	FRG	3220302	5.44	+ 0.61
Thompson Creek	TCM	8529457	15.00	+ 0.50
Quadra Mng	QUA	4472389	17.14	+ 0.49
HoriznsGBear	HGD	7125059	4.53	+ 0.46
PotashCpSask	POT	4779539	119.30	-7.65
Agrium	AGU	5221949	65.79	-5.75
Newmont Mng	NMC	25190	48.64	-3.20
Goldcorp	G	11325773	40.91	-2.92
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	2534343	58.80	-2.72
Barrick Gold	ABX	12785301	40.32	-2.68
CentralGold-T	GTU_U	11289	46.19	-2.05
Teck A	TCKA	14739	41.30	-1.59
Kinross Gold	K	11375139	19.72	-1.57
Horizns G Bull	HGU	10120158	12.32	-1.47