Trading Summary (July 19, 2002)

The golds rallied for a second straight day gaining 1.82 points or 1% to 183.72 but it was not enough to stave off intense selling pressure in all the other sub-indices as the S&P/TSX Composite Index plunged 179.91-points, or 2.7% to 6,535.44 points.

Barrick Gold was the most traded of the gold majors advancing 21 to $26.65 on about 9.9 million shares. Others on the rise were Placer Dome, plus 39 to $16.60, Kinross Gold, up 4 to $3.27, and Eldorado Gold, which added 6 to make $1.22.

Alcan topped the base metal miner list with nearly 4.1 million shares on the go. The aluminum giant gave back yesterdays surge, losing 83 to close at $47.80. The other base metal companies had a quiet day with Falconbridge ending the week up 35 to $17.50, Inco gained 35 to $29.95 and Teck Cominco closed flat at $18.98.

Canada’s junior exchange bucked the trend and posted a slight gain on the day as the major bourses continued to slide. The S&P TSX Venture Exchange composite index closed up 2.93 points, or 0.27%, to 1103.25 with 29 million shares traded.

Conquest Resources tacked on 6 and closed at 29 with just over 2 million shares traded. The company recently received a new audited mining and development report from Wardell Armstrong & Associates for the Jerooy gold project located in the Kyrgyz Republic in central Asia. The report pegs the measured and indicated resource in the Northwest zone at Jerooy at 17.26 million tonnes grading 3.42 grams gold, or 1.90 million contained oz of gold. A further 7.9 million tonnes grading 5.17 grams gold is in the inferred category.

Oasis Diamond Explorations closed at 10, up 3 on 980,000 shares. The Montreal-based company and its partners Iciena Ventures and Arctic Star Diamond are expecting drill results from their winter drilling program on the Enigma diamond project in Wawa Ontario. In June the companies discovered 21 diamonds (one macro and 20 micro) in 36.06 kg of rock taken from an outcrop on the property.

Desert Sun Mining remained flat at 40 on 469,500 shares. The company is in the process of raising a minimum of $1 million to a maximum of $2 million though an offering priced at $0.40 per share with one half a warrant to purchase another share at $0.50 for two years. The proceeds will be put towards exploration and development program at the Jacobina gold mine in Brazil.

American Bonanza Gold Mining closed up 1 to 18 with 360,000 shares traded. The company has $2 million set aside for advancing the Copperstone project in Arizona, which hosts an estimated total resource of 2.1 million tons grading 0.58 oz. gold per ton.

Hunter-Dickenson-lead Anooraq Resources closed up 4 to 92 on 313,600 shares. The company reports that PGM mineralization in Platreef host rocks has been discovered in surface exposures on its Rietfontein farm located in South Africa. African Minerals, which is earning a 50% interest in Rietfontein from Anooraq, has commenced diamond drilling on the property.