Trading Summary (December 09, 2003)

The Toronto Stock Exchange took a break after three consecutive winning sessions, with the TSX Composite index down 14.83 points at 7,975.94. The base metals continued their advance, though, with the TSX Metals and Mining index adding 1.20 points to close at 212.19.

The golds were a different story; the TSX Gold index has been declining since Dec. 3, when it made an all-time high (for this index) of 244.47. Gold prices, fixed at US$407.75 per oz. in the London afternoon session and closing at US$407.60 on the New York Comex, weren’t to blame.

All the gold shares on the index fell, though the one being brought to earth most forcibly has been Golden Star Resources, which nosedived another 81, or 8% of value, to $9.40. Trading in many of the golds was heavy, with Wheaton River Minerals the leader at 7.1 million shares; Wheaton was down 13 at $4.06.

The base metals, despite being the best of the sectors on the TSX on Tuesday, were mixed; the big winner was Sherritt International, which added a quarter, or 4% of value, to finish at $6.15. Ivanhoe Mines continues to reel from the effect of a planned $130-million equity financing; the stock lost 32 to finish at $9.57.

Canada’s junior exchange lost ground for the second straight day as investors elected to unload speculative gold issues. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 22.63 points, or 1.32%, and closed at 1,698.26.

Consolidated Gold Win Ventures added 1.5 to close at 9 on 3.06 million shares traded. At last report, the company was raising $250,000. The junior holds the Drybones Bay diamond properties near Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, along with the GTEN9 diamond properties in the Northwest Territories, the Yehiniko gold properties in B.C. and several claims in the Ungava area of Northern Quebec

Mandorin Goldfields gave back a small portion of yesterday’s gains, losing 2.5 to close at 13.5 on 1.19 million shares traded. The company inked a memorandum of understanding with JEL Project & Construction Management, which holds resource concession rights and legal title to number of gold projects in China.

Making a big percentage move, Tournigan Gold added 5 to close at 49 on 900,180 shares traded. The company tallied new drill results from the Curraghinalt gold deposit on the Tyrone project in Northern Ireland. Hole 5 targeted the T-17 and No. 1 veins, returning 27 grams gold per tonne over 1.5 metres and 22 grams gold over 1.7 metre, respectively. Testing the veins some 400 metres southeast of the previously defined resource, hole 4 hit 12.2 grams gold over 0.7 metre in the T-17 vein, 40.6 grams gold over 10 cm in the No. 1 vein and 11.4 grams gold over 18 cm in the 106-16 vein. The deposit represents a mesothermal gold quartz vein system with an inferred resource of 468,097 tonnes averaging 16.96 grams gold per tonne, or 230,000 contained ounces.