Trading Summary (March 04, 2003)

Toronto’s gold stocks managed to claw back 0.26 of a point on Tuesday to finish alone in the black at 168.05 points. The yellow metal itself regained US$3.90 to make US$352.40 per oz. in New York. The base metal miners weren’t able to tag along falling another 1.49 points to 126.05 points. At day’s end, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was 50.2 points lower at 6,422.33 points.

Northern Orion Explorations took over as the most traded mining stock climbing another 1.5 to 17.5 with around 7 million shares changing hands. The company recently inked an agreement to acquire BHP Billiton’s stake in the Agua Rica copper-gold-molybdenum project in Argentina and thus become its sole owner. For US$12.6 million, the junior gets 750 million tonnes of resources grading 0.99% copper-equivalent. The first instalment of US$3.6 million is due in late April; the rest, in mid-2005.

Falling in behind were Placer Dome, Inco, Kinross Gold, and Ivanhoe Mines all trading in the neighbourhood of 3 million shares.

Placer dropped 17 to hit $13.74. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Placer expects copper production at its Zaldivar mine in Chile to drop slightly in 2003, thanks to a slower mineral processing cycle. In 2002, the mine 147,766 tonnes of copper, a 6% increase over 2001. The open-pit mine’s output is expected to slip by 4.4% to 141,224 tonnes of copper as a greater amount of sulphide copper is extracted from the deposit. Cash costs are pegged at US48 per lb., up from US45. in 2002.

Kinross gained 30 to reach $10.50. The company is set to table their fourth-quarter and full year 2002 financial result on Mar. 5. Ivanhoe Mines finished 2 pennies poorer at $3.14. The company recently appointed Robert Friedland to the position of president. Friedland replaces Daniel Kunz who will focus on his new position as president and a director of Pacific Minerals. Inco fell 23 to $29.64

There were a few goodies in the lower ranks. Making around 9% gains were McWatters Mining, up 2 to 25.5 and Claude Resources, 11 higher at $1.35. Minco Mining & Metals grabbed 3 or 7.5% of value to make 43. The company has inked a deal with the Bureau of Metallurgical Exploration of Sichuan Province to earn a 75% interest in the Caodi gold project, situated in the Qinling gold belt.

Yamana Resources finished 2 or 14.3% higher at 16. Yamana recently closed a private placement of more than 8 million units for gross proceeds of about $1.2 million. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes and to aggressively explore its recently acquired Cumaru project in Brazil. Each unit is good for one share at 20 for 36 months. As underwriter, Westwind Partners can take up to 3.3 million additional units for 25 days.

After Inco and Ivanhoe, the rest of the base metal issues were fairly quiet. Only Noranda and Alcan saw more than 800,000 shares traded. Noranda fell 31 to $12.64 and Alcan dropped 32 to $41.59.

Noranda said on Tuesday that it has agreed to issue $150 million worth of cumulative redeemable preferred shares with an annual dividend of 6.5%. The underwriting syndicate, led by CIBC World Markets, has an option to boost the issue to $175 million. The issue is slated to close by Ma. 25. Proceeds will go to repay US$200 million of Noranda’s 8% notes due June 1.

Canada’s junior exchange followed the major bourses lower, despite some strong buy interest in select explorers. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 3.97 points, or 0.36% and closed at 1,100.60.

North Atlantic Nickel was the most actively traded issue, tacking on 5 to close at $1.30 with over 1.1 million shares changing hands. The junior is currently in the middle of a $3 million financing and recently inked a deal to earn an 100% interest in the Kantela gold property in the west part of Mali.

Goldbrook Ventures got a boost on news that it has approved a $1 million exploration budget for the recently acquired nickel-copper-platinum-palladium property in the Raglan area of northern Quebec. Shares in the junior hit a new 52-week high of 48, up 5 on a volume of over 1 million.

A rise in gold price failed to help American Bonanza Gold Mining. The company, which is in the middle of underground exploration at the Copperstone gold project in Arizona, lost 1 to close at 26 on just over 1 million shares.

Investors continued to snap up shares in Snowfield Development. The company hit a 52-week high, up 5 to 32 on nearly 900,000 shares. Snowfield recently inked a deal with New Shoshoni Ventures to earn a 50% interest in the Fate Mineral diamond property in the Northwest Territories in return for $20,000 cash, 200,000 common shares and $100,000 in exploration including 500 metres of diamond drilling this year.