Trading Summary (May 08, 2002)

Gold headed south to the tune of US$3.60 per oz. ending at US$307.60- per oz. in New York and led the Toronto Stock Exchange’s gold index 3.11 points or 1.6% lower. The golds were alone in the red. The base metal issues managed to tack on 0.43 points or 0.3%. Overall, the S&P/TSX Composite Index grew by 146.45 points or nearly 2% to 7,707.82.

Despite the yellow metal’s downturn, Barrick Gold and Placer Dome managed to climb 43 and 10 respectively. Barrick finished at $32.75 and Placer at $19.70. On Wednesday, Barrick said it plans to trim its hedge position by 3 million ounces by year-end.

A raft of mid-tier producers also recently released first-quarter earnings reports. Goldcorp advanced shed $1.40 to $28.35, Meridian Gold slid $1.29 to $25.32, Glamis Gold finished off 18 lower at $10.97, and Iamgold dropped 45 to end at $7.15. All posted higher first-quarter earnings.

Aur Resources was the busiest base metal miner unchanged at $3.72 with about 941,000 shares on the go. The company ‘s first-quarter net earnings rang in at US$2.6 million (or 3 per share), compared with year-ago earnings of US$1 million (a penny a share).

Next in line were Inco, plus 42 to $32.39 on 741,970, Alcan, up 22 to $59.12 with just under 600,000 shares traded, and Teck Cominco’s B series, which gained half a dollar to $14.20.

Canada’s junior exchange drifted lower. The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index dropped 3.8 points, or 0.33%, to close at 1,146.14 points.

Golden Goose Resources jumped 3 pennies or 13.6% to a quarter with nearly 1.3 million shares traded to lead the junior gold explorers. The company is drilling its Magino project near Wawa, Ont. The holes are testing three zones highlighted in past drilling. The main zone of interest lies along strike of a near-surface deposit of 5.3 million tonnes averaging 3.1 grams gold per tonne, based on a cutoff grade of 1.71 grams.

Scorpio Mining fell a penny to 55 with just fewer than a half million shares changing hands to rank second in volume. The company recently tabled a final compilation of all drill results from surface and underground drilling on its Nuestra Senora polymetallic project in Mexico’s Sinaloa state. Scorpio says the holes show the continuity of the Candelaria deposit on strike and at depth.

The CDNX’s best percentage gainer was Softrock Minerals, which soared 5 or 250% to 7.