Trading Summary (October 14, 2003)

The S&P/TSX composite index ended 115.81 points higher at 7,749.42 with the telecom issues alone in the red at the end of Tuesday’s trading session. The diversified miners made 5.97 points, or 3.3%, to hit 185.75 and outshine the golds, which moved 2.87 points higher to 194.72.

McWatters Mining‘s freefall resumed, as the shares dropped another penny to 4.5 on nearly 8 million shares, enough to ranks as the TSX’s second most traded stock. Breakwater Resources took a breather from its meteoric rise, ending unchanged at 66 with about 6.6 million shares on the go. Queenstake Resources squeezed out Canadian Zinc for third spot, also unchanged at 61. Canadian Zinc ended 3 poorer at 74.

Caldera Resources put in an impressive 43.75% increase to make 11.5 on the backs of about 1.8 million shares. On Tuesday, Caldera reported encouraging exploration results from two diamond exploration projects in Western Australia and the Victoria River Downs Project in the Northern Territory.

Also making news Barrick Gold, which edged 3 pennies higher to $24.88. The major gold producer said on Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire a 10% stake in Russian gold miner Highland Gold for US$43 million. The stake is part of South African-based Harmony Gold’s 31.7% stake in the company. Barrick can boost its stake to 29% for US$116 million.

Ivanhoe Mines was the busiest base metal miner, gaining 87&, or 8.2%, to reach $a new 52-week high of $11.49. On Tuesday, Ivanhoe announced more stellar results from its Turquoise Hill copper-gold project in Mongolia, where three new holes cut as much as 244 metres running 2.88% copper and 1.13 grams gold per tonne. All were collared in the northern extension of the Hugo (formerly Far North zone) deposit, and each pulled up gold-rich bornite mineralization in quartz-veining.

Shares on Noranda rose 71 to 16.35 after the company confirmed the permanent shutdown of its Bell-Allard zinc mine in northern Quebec at the end of next year. The move will affect 230 workers. Noranda also reiterated that development of the nearby Perseverance zinc project would wait until zinc prices improve. Perseverance would require two years of construction once a thumbs-up is given.

Vancouver–Canada’s junior exchange surged to a new all-time high after the Thanksgiving holiday. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index jumped 8.53 points, or 0.6%, and closed at 1,429.89 on a volume of 85.4 million shares.

Spider Resources tacked on a penny and closed at 16.5 with 5.6 million shares traded. The junior along with partner KWG Resources have discovered a third zone of massive sulphide mineralization (McFaulds #3) in the latest drill hole (McF 03-18). The hole was designed to test selected geophysical anomalies located 1 km SW of the original McFaulds #1 mineralized structure. Massive sulphide is observable over 42 metres at a vertical depth of 120.5 metres. Assays are pending. KWG closed at 31, up 6.5 with 990,000 shares traded.

Mandorin Goldfields closed up 6 to 11 on almost 3.4 million shares. The junior announced that CanAustra Holdings, a shareholder and lender to Mandorin has offered to convert $800,000 of its $1.1 million loan to equity. CanAustra will receive 16 million units, each consisting of one common share and one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant can be exercised at a price of 10 for a period of one year after closing. The securities are subject to a four month hold period. Mandorin has entered into a license agreement with UniQuest, for exclusive worldwide rights to use the KDC Endeavour technique. This technique is intended for use in the identification of potential locations of diamondiferous kimberlite and lamprolite deposits in traditional and non-traditional locations.

Inca Pacific Resources closed down 3.5 to 15.5 with 2.1 million shares changing hands. The company tabled results from 6 additional drill holes at the Antoro Sur Project in Central Peru. To date, 18 holes have been completed. The best hole cut 48.5 metres averaging 0.67% copper, 0.12 gram gold and 2.40 grams silver. This included a 4-metre interval that averaged 1.77% copper and 0.04 gram gold.

Dumont Nickel finished the day up 5 to 31 with 1.9 million shares traded. Rosseau Limited Partnership (RLP) announced that it has acquired 6,25 million units of Dumont Nickel at a price of 16 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share and one half of a common share purchase warrant. Each Warrant entitles RLP to purchase one additional share for a period of 24 months at a price of 24 per share. If the warrants are exercised RLP will hold a 15.74% equity interest in Dumont.