TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE -May 18-21

Continued worries over the euro zone banking sector combined with rising tensions on the Korean peninsula had a negative impact on the TSX composite index as it fell nearly 500 points to finish the holiday shortened May 18-21 period at 11,539.11.

With the fledgling faith in the global economic recovery now on hold, the Canadian dollar, which has been strongly correlated with natural resources over its recent run, fell dramatically to the US92¢ mark.

The price of oil was also on the downtrend, slipping below US$70. It was trading for US$67.87 a barrel while gold fell too, by roughly US$50 for the period, and finished at US$1,187. The Global Gold index tracked the yellow metal downward and was off 22 points to 357.61.

Significant gold producers Agnico-Eagle Mines, Newmont Mining, Red Back Mining and Goldcorp suffered the biggest losses by dollar value.

And while the Capped Metals and Mining index was off 67 points to 872.4, the price of base metals did not fare so poorly. The prices of copper, aluminum, nickel, tin, lead and zinc were all relatively flat for the period.

Such fundamentals kept Inmet Mining and Teck Resources at the top of the gainers by value chart, even if their gains were modest.

With markets around the world sliding, good news stories in the mining sector were hard to come by. But Copper Mountain Mining did manage to gain 10% to finish at $2.42. Earlier in the month, the Vancouverbased company announced that construction of its Copper Mountain project in B.C. was moving ahead on schedule and should be producing copper towards the end of the second quarter.

Gold miner Crystallex International also managed a substantial gain for the period. The volatile stock finished the period up 17% at 55¢ after the company announced a court victory and said it wasn’t giving up on its permit dispute with the Venezuelan government. The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld prior decision of that and dismissed the company’s noteholders’ claims that Crystallex had not acted in accordance with its obligations and ordered the noteholders to pay Crystallex its costs. On the mining front, Crystallex said it might file international arbitration if a settlement with the Venezuelan government is not arrived at. Last October, President Hugo Chavez said Russian companies would develop the company’s key asset.

Khan Resources saw its share price plummet after a failed acquisition deal. The company’s shares were off 58% to 23¢ after the China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) let its $51.8-million bid for the company expire. CNNC couldn’t get the regulatory approval it needed from the Chinese government to finalize the agreement. Khan said it was not given any reasons as to why the Chinese government refused to approve the deal.

TSX most active issues
	VOLUME		WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Eastern Platin ELR	47252	1.15	0.95	1.09	+ 0.02
Western C Coal WTN	32302	5.01	4.11	4.64	-0.06
Mercator Mnls ML	26132	1.82	1.27	1.52	-0.15
Teck B TCKB	25625	35.29	31.10	33.75	+ 0.64
Yamana Gold YRI	22967	11.67	10.51	10.61	-0.89
Lundin Mng LUN	19079	4.04	3.47	3.73	-0.22
Barrick Gold ABX	19019	46.50	42.80	43.38	-2.49
Breakwater Res BWR	18244	0.34	0.28	0.29	-0.04
Eldorado Gold ELD	18005	17.95	16.01	16.58	-1.29
Grande Cache C GCE	16087	5.24	4.16	4.99	+ 0.07

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Avnel Gold	AVK	65	0.23	0.22	0.23	+ 21.0
Crystallex Int	KRY	995	0.58	0.46	0.55	+ 17.0
Talon Metals	TLO	247	0.50	0.33	0.40	+ 14.2
Horizns G Bear	HGD	12614	3.91	3.32	3.79	+ 14.1
Opta Minls	OPM	12	1.58	1.40	1.58	+ 12.8
Copper Mtn Mng	CUM	3770	2.42	2.10	2.42	+ 10.0
Canarc Res	CCM	417	0.13	0.12	0.12	+ 9.0
First Nickel	FNI	1334	0.12	0.11	0.12	+ 9.0
UEX Corp	UEX	1556	0.87	0.72	0.87	+ 8.7
Anaconda Mng	ANX	695	0.29	0.24	0.27	+ 8.0
Khan Res	KRI	7862	0.57	0.19	0.23	-58.1
Crescent Gold	CRA	225	0.12	0.10	0.12	-25.0
US Gold Can Ac	UXE	18	4.00	3.22	3.22	-23.3
Nuukfjord Gold	NUU	721	0.44	0.31	0.34	-22.7
VG Gold	VG	427	0.27	0.21	0.21	-22.2
Solitario Res	SLR	32	2.59	2.21	2.21	-20.2
PC Gold	PKL	1080	1.40	1.03	1.08	-20.0
Golden Predatr	GPD	841	0.51	0.40	0.42	-19.2
Timminco	TIM	4110	0.63	0.48	0.48	-18.6
Farallon Res	FAN	8217	0.53	0.38	0.44	-18.5

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Inmet Mining	IMN	1778100	47.90	+ 1.46
Teck B	TCKB	25625462	33.75	+ 0.64
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF_U	495127	45.52	+ 0.64
HoriznsGBear	HGD	12613960	3.79	+ 0.47
Richmont Mines	RIC	349206	4.85	+ 0.35
Copper Mtn Mng	CUM	3770091	2.42	+ 0.22
Opta Minls	OPM	11775	1.58	+ 0.18
Corriente Res	CTQ	5392228	8.55	+ 0.17
Quadra Mng	QUA	10681657	12.52	+ 0.10
Crystallex Int	KRY	995405	0.55	+ 0.08
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	3264637	60.09	-4.81
Newmont Mng	NMC	50904	55.16	-3.94
Red Back Mng	RBI	6532295	23.75	-2.90
Goldcorp	G	13084379	43.36	-2.89
Royal Gold	RGL	27604	50.38	-2.63
Seabridge Gold	SEA	182002	32.17	-2.52
Silver Wheaton	SLW	13840610	18.90	-2.50
Barrick Gold	ABX	19018510	43.38	-2.49
Coeur d Alene	CDM	112907	15.55	-2.44
Pan Am Silver	PAA	1109516	25.78	-2.21