Toronto Stock Exchange: Sluggish market dips, golds take it on the

Wednesday close, Oct 29 A sluggish market this week saw the widely followed composite 300 mean der a few points here and a few points there. Today it was off 0.77 pts for a close of 3,011.82. While the metals and minerals index was down 20.56 pt to 2,093.36, it was the gold and silver index that took it on the chin today. In a response to the drop in bullion on commodity markets the gold index slipped 101.75 pts to settle at 4,996.87. Gold has been responding to the recent rally of the US dollar. On the Montreal spot market today gold closed at $404(US) bid $406(US) ask, down considerably from the $425(US) level quoted last week.

Once again, TVX Mining is the week’s most active trader with some 1.7 million shares changing hands. Over the past two weeks, its shares have moved up a total of 64 cents to new-high at $2.05 on the news that a Brazilian company 49% held by TVX has signed a letter of intent with a Rio Tinto Zinc subsidiary to explore a Brazilian property where the presence of platinum has been indicated. In today’s trading TVX closed at $1.82 after a drop of 2 cents .

Closer to home, Madeleine Mines was hopping this week with a gain of a nickel to reach its high of $4.15 and the story was no different today. Shares closed at a new high of $4.45 after a gain of 40 cents and 52,300 shares trading. There’s talk of major financing in the wind for this company which plans to bring its Lac des Iles platinum-palladium project into production near Thunder Bay, Ont. There’s talk also that Heenan Senlac Resources is acquiring a property in the Lac des Iles area. Over the week, Heenan Senlac was up a nickel to 65 cents with trading unchanged today.

In Quebec NSR Resources has two underground drills working to define the 67 zone at its Rand Malartic gold property in Quebec and results from the 23 holes completed to date are encouraging. Over the week the price jumped 29 cents to new high at 66 cents with 1.2 million shares changing hands. In day’s trading, 11 cents was dropped for a close of 49 cents on a volume of 136,900.

Westfield Minerals is the project manager of a 5,000 ft drill program to test the newly discovered mineralized zone in south-central Newfoundland. Over the week, Westfield new-highed at $1.90 after a gain of 38 cents . Today it was off 9 cents for a close of $1.69.

Franco Nevada Chairman Seymour Schulich tells us drilling is underway on three projects in Nevada with drilling to start on three more, also in Nevada, before year end. Over the week the company shares new-highed at $2.33 after a 30 cents gain. Shares advanced 3 cents in today’s trading for a close of $2.18.

Tis the season of third quarter reports and increased gold production is the highlight of the latest from Lac Minerals. The company is targetting 290,000 oz of gold for the year, excluding the Page- Williams claims. Most of the targetted production will be coming from the Doyon mine in northwestern Quebec held in joint venture with Cambior. Lac was down a quarter over the week to $24.63 and today 50 cents was lost for a close of $24.13. Cambior units were also down on the week by 63 cents and by 50 cents on the day for a close of $14.25.

There’s talk on the street of a possibility of an out of court settlement between Lac and International Corona. These two companies are due to meet in the court of appeal regarding the Page-Williams Hemlo mine on Nov 17. When asked at Lac’s annual meeting last spring about the possiblity of such a settlement, President Peter Allen replied there is always a possibility, but would not comment further.

Corona shares were up 13 cents on the week to reach $27.63. Today they dropped a quarter for a close of $26.75.

Keeping the lid on the red ink screwed on tightly, Noranda Inc. has emerged in the most recent quarter with a profit of $52.9 million for the year to date. Over the week its shares advanced 50 cents to $20.25 while today 13 cents was dropped for a close of $20.13.

After two quarters of losses Falconbridge Ltd. posted a profit in its third quarter. Shares in the company were down 25 cents over the week to $18 with trading unchanged today. And for Inco Ltd. third quarter profit was slim at $1.6 million (US) compared to the $11.6 million (US) posted in the comparable period last year. Inco was down 38 cents on the week to $21.25.

Mineral Resources International has agreed to buy the 18% minority interest held by the Canadian government in Nanisivik Mines, which owns a zinc-lead-silver mine on Baffin Island. Nanisivik will thus become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mineral Resources. In today’s trading Mineral Resources was up a nickel to $3.45.

New-comers to the TSE include HSK Minerals, formerly Homestake Explorations and Nevada Goldfields. HSK closed the day at 65 cents on a volume of 16,500 while Nevada closed at $10/50 after a drop of a quarter.