Trading Summary (January 17, 2002)

The technology and consumer products sector led the Toronto Stock Exchange to a 68.68-point gain to end at 7,652.7 on Thursday. The golds reversed their recent trend finishing off 69.71 points or 1.2% at 5,618.32. The base metal issues managed to grab 7.07 points to end at 4,113.98.

Gold continued lower in New York falling US$2.90 to US$284.60; silver slipped US12 to US$4.44; and palladium dropped US$4 US$4.17 per oz. Platinum stood out gaining US$3 to US$480 per oz. Nickel lost US$210 to US$6050 per tonne to suffer the only loss on the London Metal Exchange.

Falconbridge was the nation’s most traded mining stock. The issue fell 15 to $16.40 on about 2.9 million shares. Gold miner Placer Dome slid in behind dropping 40 to $19.35 with about 2.7 million shares traded. Barrick Gold was next in line with 2.3 million shares crossing the floor to drop a quarter to $27.70. Franco-Nevada Mining slipped 33 to $26.37 on 1,5 million shares. Junior Aurizon Gold jumped 7 or almost 20% to 43. On Thursday, the company said that its gold production for 2001 was on target with its plan of 31,900 oz., but off the 56,100 oz. produced the previous year thanks to lower grades at Sleeping Giant mine in Quebec and the suspension of operations at the Beaufor mine, also in Quebec, which churned out 17,100 oz. in 2000. Preliminary total cash costs at Sleeping Giant climbed to US$236 per oz. from US$191 per oz. in 2000. Aurizon expects its share of Sleeping Giant production to hit 36,100 oz. in 2002. Cash costs are pegged at US$230 per oz. Aurizon’s share of capital expenditures is estimated at $1.5 million, comparable to 2001.

Another nice percentage gain was put in by Chesbar Resources, which shot up 2 pennies or 22% to 11 on 113,000 shares.

Most of the country’s base metal miners were more fortunate than Falconbridge. Inco added a quarter to hit $27; Sherritt International rose 11 to $4.23; Noranda gained 30 to $15.45; Aur Resources added a dime to make $3.77; and Breakwater Resources found 2 pennies to hit 30.

Canada’s junior exchange resumed its march forward following a modest set back yesterday. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index gained 9.06 points, or 0.8% to close at 1094.55.

Inlet Resources added 4 to close at 10 on 874,000 shares. Investors bid up shares in the junior following news that it had acquired three diamond properties in the Wemindji area of northern Quebec. The properties lie east of Majescor Resource’s Wemindji property, where kimberlite fragments and indictor minerals have been discovered.

Another junior entering the diamond rush in northern Quebec, Masuparia Gold ended the day down a penny at 12 on 818,000 shares. Masuparia’s property is located northeast of Majescor’s property. The company is also resuming drilling on the Greywacke gold project in northern Saskatchewan.

Shares in Diadem Resources rocketed over 150% or 6 to close at 10 on a volume of nearly 1.3 million. The company announced that its partner of the El Nino base metal property in Mexico reported that additional work is required. La Parrena Mining, a subsidiary of Industrias Penoles, has been exploring El Nino in search of massive sulphides similar to the adjacent San Nicolas deposit outlined by the Teck/Western Copper joint venture.

Starfield Resources gave back some of its recent gains, losing 2 to 75 on 144,300 shares. The company is gearing up to resume drilling on its Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-platinum-palladium property in Nunavut.

Donner Minerals ended the day at 28, down 2 on 467,900 shares. The company recently announced a joint venture with Falconbridge over the South Voisey Bay nickel sulphide area in Labrador.