Trading Summary (May 23, 2003)

The Toronto Stock Exchange closed marginally higher on Friday, with the TSX Composite index up 3.56 points to 6,782.90. At the same time, the golds were outpacing the broad market and the base metals had the best day of any market sector.

The TSX Metals and Mining index closed at 119.82, up 1.75 points, paced by Inco, which rose 83 to $26.75. The other nickel miners mainly followed suit — Falconbridge was up 47 at $16.09 and Sherritt International rose 3 to $4.02. Only LionOre Mining International, which reported first-quarter earnings of US$9.1 million on revenues of US$41.5 million, was unchanged, at $5.55.

Others on the base metal board posted gains as well. Cameco jumped 96 to $39.93, though in very thin trading (just over 79,000 shares). Noranda added a nickel to touch $12. Teck Cominco was the lone loser, with B-series shares down 8 at $10.12.

Gold prices rallied modestly from yesterday’s drop, for a London afternoon fix of US$370.50 per oz. and a closing ask of US$368.80 on the New York market. The response in the equity markets nudged the TSX Gold index 1.16 points higher, to 168.69.

Eldorado Gold was the heaviest trader, sliding 4 to $2.26 on a volume of 5.8 million shares. Barrick Gold was the only other declining stock, falling 26 to $24.90.

Heavy trading continued in Kinross Gold, which jumped 23 to $9.55. Brazilian investor Eike Batista, former chief executive at TVX Gold (and possibly a shareholder in Kinross, which merged with TVX last year) appeared at the head of Mineracao Pedra Branca do Amapari, a company formed to take over AngloGold’s interest in the Amapari gold project in Amapa state, Brazil. The pruchase price is US$18 million.

There was active trading in three of the mid-tier golds. Agnico Eagle Mines was 39 higher at $15.64 on a volume of 1.7 million shares, while Iamgold moved up 19 to $7.49 as 1.1 million shares changed hands. Meanwhile Goldcorp watched just under a million shares trade while rising 30 to $16.15.

Among the smaller gold producers off the index, Apollo Gold rose a dime to $3.15, with just over a million shares moving. And development-stage junior Etruscan Resources jumped 11 to $1.07 after announcing it had arranged a US$27-million bank loan for development of its Samira Hill gold project in western Niger. Partner Semafo was down a penny at 58.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the trading week by posting gains, despite declining issues outpacing advancing stocks by a 337-to-333 margin. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index gained 8.90 points, or 0.82% and closed at 1,088.43.

Wolfden Resources added a penny to close at $1.71 on nearly 1.2 million shares traded. The junior, along with joint venture partner Toronto-listed Bema Gold, recently reported that drilling at the Monument Bay property has expanded gold mineralization in the Twin Lakes and Twin Lakes West gold zones. Previous drilling on the Monument Bay Property has identified a high-grade resource of 300,000 ozs of gold with an average grade of 18.5 grams gold per tonne.

Ecu Silver Mining dropped a penny to close at 5 on 826,502 shares traded. Canadian auditors are currently reviewing the company’s financial statements and recently the original vendors have challenged Ecu’s ownership of the Velardena gold property. The on going legal situation has disrupted production schedule but has now reportedly ended and the production is resuming at its previous rate.

Hathor Exploration continued to gain ground, tacking on 1 to close at 34 on 299,500 shares. On May 21, the junior reported that it had agreed to sell its entire interest in the North Gilford Sawtooth and Atlantis oil and gas projects in Hill County, Montana. The company will focus on its gold-silver prospects in the Eskay Creek area of British Columbia,