Trading Summary (April 15, 2003)

Tuesday was another generally positive day on financial markets, with the TSX Composite index rising 25.75 points to close at 6,488.18 points. Even the golds had a good day, as the TSX Gold index added 1.92 points to finish at 155.88.

Trading activity was lighter than the day before, and among the golds, Placer Dome was the most active stock, picking up 34 to close at $14.29. Placer announced it would put the Turquoise Ridge gold mine in Nevada into production. Turquoise Ridge is part of the trouble-ridden Getchell property, which Placer acquired as part of its takeover of Getchell Mines.

Gabriel Resources bounced back after a 20% loss on Monday. The company, facing mounting costs at its Rosia Montana development project in Romania, was hammered when it announced four senior executives were resigning. Bargain hunters pushed it up 9 to $2.24, a gain of over 4%.

The only declining issue on the index was Glamis Gold, which was off 25 at $15.28. Other mid-tier producers were up strongly, as Meridian Gold bounded up 41 to $14.38 and Iamgold added 12 to finish at $6.60. Agnico Eagle Mines, at $15.59, and Goldcorp, at $15.38, were both up a quarter.

The TSX Metals and Mining index also outpaced the broader market, adding 0.97 points to finish at 117.65. The most active was Inco, with just under a million shares changing hands; it rose 50 to $27.70 and after the close announced first-quarter earnings of US$61 million on revenues of US$593 million.

Comeback kid of the day was Cameco, which was 60 better at $31.75. The stock had been hit on Monday after further news from the MacArthur River uranium mine, where water inflows in a development drift were threatening to inundate critical working areas of the mine.

Among the juniors, South American Gold and Copper was up 2.5 at 8 on news that it had discovered a new and large breccia-pipe body on its Pimenton property in Chile.

Canada’s junior exchange drifted lower on a lacklustre trading day. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index fell 4.46 points, or 0.43% and closed at 1,037.90.

Canadian Royalties was the most actively traded junior losing 9 to close at $1.95 on 495,150 shares. The company released on independent resource calculation for the Mesamax zone on the Expo ungava property in northern Quebec. Based on 41 drill holes, consulting firm Strathcona Mineral Services pegged the indicated resource at 1.45 million tonnes grading 2.1% nickel, 2.7% copper, 0.08% cobalt, plus 0.3 gram gold, 1 gram platinum and 4.2 grams palladium per tonne. The resource includes 700,000 tonnes grading 3.5% nickel, 4.4% copper, 0.14% cobalt, 0.5 gram gold, 1.4 grams platinum and 4 grams palldium in the massive sulphide section and 750,000 tonnes grading 0.8% nickel, 1.1% copper, 0.04% coblat, 0.1 gram gold, 0.6 gram platinum and 4.4 grams palladium in the disseminated sulphide portion.

Investors contiue to jockey for position ahead of further drill results from the Spider #3 base metal project in Ontario. Spider Resources ending the day flat at 13 with 492,200 shares traded. The junior and joint venture partner, over the counter-listed, KWG Resources recently reported more sulphide mineralization from the James Bay Lowlands project.

Deloro Minerals added onto yesterday’s gains, climbing 1 to close at 10 on just over 331,320 shares traded. The junior’s principal asset is the Dingman gold property in Madoc and Marmora Townships Ontario. A 1998 study estimated an indicated mineable open-pit resource 5.6 million tonnes grading 1.05 grams gold per tonne.