Trading Summary (September 05, 2002)

The Toronto Stock Exchange‘s gold stocks regained their glitter on Thursday soaring 7.81 points or 4.15% to 196.18, spurred on by a US$3.40-per-oz. rise in the price of gold in New York. The yellow metal ended the day at US$318.40 per oz. The base metal issues couldn’t maintain Wednesday’s gains and fell 2.01 points or 1.7% to 115.12 points.

South American Gold and Copper’s shares headed north to the tune of 3 or 75% of value to make 7. On Thursday, the company announced it had completed a preliminary feasibility study of reviving its Pimenton gold mine 174 km northeast of Santiago, Chile. The issue saw more than 6.5 million shares cross the floor to rank as the TSX’s third most traded issue.

Kinross Gold slid in behind gaining 17 to $3.43 on about 6.2 million shares. Other golds to make the exchange’s top ten volume list were: Placer Dome, plus 64 to $16.80; Bema Gold, a dime higher at $2.24; Wheaton River Minerals, up 4 to $1.32; Barrick Gold, $1 to the good at $25.90; and Eldorado Gold, 6 higher at $1.44.

Not sharing in the fun was NovaGold Resources, which slumped 77 or nearly 13% to $5.18. On Thursday, NovaGold revealed plans to raise up to $10 million via a private placement of about 2 million units, each comprising one share and half a share warrant.

The red ink was well used among the base metal crowd. Alcan led the pack with a $1.27 loss finishing at $39.78 with just fewer than 1.5 million shares on the go. Alcan plans to begin a consultation process with employees and unions on the proposed closure of its Burntisland facility in the U.K. — part of the company’s withdrawal from the European specialty chemicals market.

Nickel miner Inco was next dropping 59 to $26.76 on more than a million shares. Boliden put in a 52 or 15% loss to hit $3. The Swedish miner’s shares have been dragged back through the mire of a tailings dam failure at the Los Frailes mine in 1998. The company is refusing to pay an E45 million fine levied by the Spanish government against Boliden’s Spanish subsidiary.

Canada’s junior bourse continued to tread water as buyers remained on the sidelines. The TSX Venture Exchange composite index edged 0.98 of a point higher, or 0.1%, to close at 1004.08.

American Bonanza Gold Mining topped the most actively traded chart among junior explorers ending the day flat at 15 on 774,500 shares. The junior is aiming to advance the Copperstone gold project in Arizona.

Shares in Diagem International Resource got a pop following news of surface sample results from a diamond project near Wawa, Ontario. Joint venture partner, KWG Resources and fellow junior Spider Resources reported that 24 of 52 samples collected on the 45-sq-km property returned 565 diamonds, 50 of which were macrodiamonds. Diagem International ended the day at 19, up 2 on 410,000 shares.

Royal Standard Minerals dropped 1 to close at 19 on 360,000 shares. The company is currently evaluating gold projects in Nevada.