Trading Summary (August 24, 2004)

Toronto stocks edged 1.04 point higher to 8,316.51 by the end of Tuesday’s trading session. The golds slipped 4.45 points, or 2.25%, to 193.61, as a stronger greenback and easing oil prices sent the yellow metal US$7.60 per oz. lower to end at US$402.90 per oz. in New York. The diversified miners chipped in with a 3.09-point loss to 217.88.

Eurozinc Mining ended as Canada’s most-traded mining stock, with nearly 9 million shares making their way 3, or 4.6%, higher to 68. There was no immediate news out of the company. Queenstake Resources was close behind, tacking on 2 pennies to make 47 on 8.7 million shares. Recent drill results from the company’s Starvation Canyon project, which comprises the southwestern portion of the Jerritt Canyon district in Nevada, confirm the existence and extend a high-grade gold zone identified earlier this year. Kinross Gold rounded out the top three miners, watching about 4.7 million shares slide 12 to $7.61 on gold’s misfortune.

Shares in Wheaton River Minerals fell 11 to $3.51 with 1.7 million shares changing hands. The company has arranged a US$300 million acquisition facility with a German bank. Meanwhile Coeur d’Alene Mines has re-launched its offer to buy out Wheaton shareholders, this time the offer is good on both sides of the border. Terms of the new bid remain unchanged from the previous version, aside for the Sept. 30 expiration date.

Anatolia Minerals Development plummeted 15, or 11.5%, to $1.15. A recent round of 44 holes, mostly beyond the conceptual pit boundary at the Copler project in east-central Turkey, was highlighted by a 10-metre section running 14.2 grams gold per tonne; most of the remaining holes returned less then 1 gram gold over average widths of 13.7 metres.

Tiberon Minerals stood out among the base metal crowd, with a 14, or 6.8%, rise to $2.19. On Tuesday, the company announced that it has lined up two banking groups to facilitate a US$100 million debt financing aimed at developing its 77.5%-owned Nui Phao tungsten-fluorspar project in Vietnam. Capital costs there are pegged at US$140 million.