Trading Summary (December 29, 2003)

A strong showing by the Toronto Stock Exchange’s miners resulted in a 123.76-point gain for the composite index on Monday. The index ended at a 2.5-year high of 8,260.54. The golds chipped in a 5.9% gain to 234.03, while the diversified crowd added 4.7% to make 234.34.

Gold ended at US$414.60 per oz. in New York, after fixing at US$412 even in the afternoon in London. The golds surged in response, with Wheaton River Minerals the most traded, gaining another 32 to $4.02 with just shy of 4.4 million shares traded. Silver, Wheaton’s principal product, shot up 17 to US$5.91 per oz. in New York.

Dynatec wasn’t far off the pace, jumping 14 to $1.77 on 3.5 million shares.

Placer Dome was the biggest gainer among the gold majors, tacking on $1.56 to reach $24.05, Kinross Gold finished 62 higher at $10.72, and Barrick Gold rounded out the trio with a $1.20 gain to make at $30.04.

Plus-10% gains were put in by a host of other gold issues. Defiance Mining stood out with an 11, or 24.4% rise to 56. The recently begot junior is working the Tasiast gold project, 170 km east of the port city of Nouadhibou in Mauritania, West Africa.

Zinc miner Breakwater Resources saw the most action among the base metal miners. The issue ended a penny higher at 59 on the backs of about 1.3 million shares. Among the remainder, only Teck Cominco and Noranda saw more than a million shares traded. Teck rose $1.13 to $22.10, and Noranda closed 81 to the good at $21 even.

Canada’s junior exchange continued to gain ground with advancing stocks outpacing declining stocks 477 to 346. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index tacked on 37.04 points, or 2.19%, and closed at 1726.88 on a volume of 49.4 million shares.

International Taurus Resources closed at 48, up 4, with 1.14 million shares traded. The junior is the operator and 62% owner of the Fenelon joint venture project in northwestern Quebec, where a decline ramp is being driven to test mine and to prove up reserves.

Stroud Resources added 3 to its value and closed at 17 with 779,000 shares traded. The company is exploring for gold and other precious metals in Ontario and Mexico. Among its assets are a 50% interest in the joint ventured Santo Domingo epithermal silver-gold project in central Mexico and 100% interests in the Hislop gold property, near Timmins and the Leckie gold property, near North Bay, Ontario. Stroud also generates cash flow from a 3.75% interest in two natural gas condensate wells in central Alberta.

Quaterra Resources tacked on 8 and closed at 53, with 737,000 shares changing hands. The junior is planning a 15-to-20 hole, 5,000 metre diamond drill program that is scheduled to commence in late January at its Nieves silver project, Zacatecas, Mexico. Quaterra recently completed CSAMT, magnetic and scalar IP geophysical surveys. Quaterra’s Nieves silver project is comprised of 17 concessions covering an area of approximately 130 sq. km.