Trading Summary (August 02, 2002)

The gold index was the leading mover and shaker on the Toronto Stock Exchange on the Friday before the long weekend. The index posted a 5.20-point, or 3.21% gain and closed at 167.16 points. The advance was powered by three consecutive days of lackluster economic news in the US. When all was said and done, the S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 14.24 points, or 0.22% to finish the day at 6,536.47 points.

Kinross Gold remained the volume leader for the mining group tacking on 8 and closing at $2.79 on 4.7 million shares crossing the floor. Echo Bay Mines added 4 to its value and closed at $1.39 on just over 1.05 million shares changing hands. Placer Dome, whose sweetened bid was recently rebuffed by Aussie miner AurionGold, found 30 and closed at $14.10 on 4.09 million shares. Barrick Gold rose 23 to $24.98 on 2.2 million shares and Eldorado Gold closed up 11 to $1.23 on 1.25 million shares.

Most of the base metal miners suffered losses mirroring the performance of the metals they mine. Alcan was again at the head of the class with about 2.1 million shares traded. The aluminum giant’s shares fell $2.36 to $41.99. Inco took second spot falling 85 to $25.85. Falconbridge lost 32 and closed at $16.28.

Canada’s junior market continued its bull run with resource juniors leading the way. The TSX Venture Exchange composite index closed up 5.99 points, or 0.58%, and finished the week at 1037.09, on 19 million shares.

ECU Silver Mining was the volume leader for the second straight day with 797,000 shares traded. The company’s issue lost a penny and closed at 5. The company owns the Velardena silver mine in central Mexico which has a resource of 2.4 million tonnes grading 269 grams silver and 2.80 grams gold per tonne.

St Jude Resources jumped 4 and closed at 68 with 420,000 shares crossing the floor. The junior announced bonanza gold grade intersections at its South Benso concession in Ghana, West Africa. The best intercept cut 12 metres averaging 78.71 grams gold per tonne and included a 1-metre section that assayed 567 grams gold.

Diagem International Resources closed down 3 to 17 on 309,000 shares. The junior diamond explorer recently announced that KWG Resources and joint venture partner, Spider Resource, who together hold a 38.9% interest in the Wawa Diamond property in Ontario, have recovered 167 diamonds from twelve (15 kg) regional rock samples. Of these, one sample yielded 59 diamonds including 22 macrodiamonds. To date, the joint venture has recovered a total of 639 diamonds from this project that include 68 macrodiamonds and 13 commercial size diamonds (one dimension greater then 1.0 mm).