Trading Summary (November 13, 2002)

The Toronto Stock Exchange fell back slightly in uneven trading on Wednesday, with the S&P TSX composite index off 27.94 points, or 0.4% of value, at 6,301.78. Most of the market groups declined, led by the golds, which were off 8.44 points or 4.6%, at 174.05.

The golds were largely following bullion prices, which had a heart-stopping drop shortly after noon Eastern time, following the announcement that Iraq had agreed to United Nations weapons inspections. From a London afternoon fix of US$324, gold fell to US$317, rebounding to US$318.30 in later trading on New York.

The heaviest punishment was dealt out to Placer Dome, which slid 97 to $14.65, a loss of over 6%. Placer has been at the centre of rumors about a possible takeover bid, but with gold prices taking a beating, speculators deserted. Also hard-hit, in heavy trading, was Kinross Gold, which fell 13 to $2.95.

Glamis Gold, which announced a $127-million financing, also took a hit, falling 81 to $13.18.

On the base metals side, the TSX Metals and Mining index was off 1.57 points at 120.23, as all the big components fell. Inco was down 43 at $29.55, Noranda was off 17 at $14.10, and Falconbridge slid back 18 to $14.41.

The big gainers were all among the smaller fish: Ivanhoe Mines added 8 to close at $3.05, LionOre Mining was up 13 at $4.25, and Aur Resources clawed up 3 to $2.97.

Off the indexes, there was heavy trading in McWatters Mining, which was down 1 at 17.5 with 1.5 million shares traded. Wheaton River Minerals slipped a dime to close at $1.09.

Canada’s junior exchange failed to sustain its recent rally as investors found little reason to buy stocks. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index lost 9.81 points or 1.03%, and closed at 945.37.

Investors continued to gobble up shares in Canadian Royalties following news of the latest drill results from the Mesamax northwest grid area on the Expo-Ungava property in northern Quebec. Hole 18 returned 49.3 metres grading 3.32% nickel, 4% copper, 0.13% cobalt, 1.5 grams platinum, 5.17 grams palladium and 0.26 gram gold from 5.2 metres downhole. A second mineralized zone was encountered 76.7 metres downhole, yielding 1.85% nickel, 2.23% copper, 0.06% cobalt, 0.58 gram platinum, 1.2 grams palladium and 0.04 gram gold over 2.3 metres. Shares in the junior followed up yesterday’s 58 gain by adding another 39 to close at $2.40 on a volume of 1.65 million.

Dumont Nickel added 4 to close at 10 on 1.84 million shares. The junior completed a management shake up and intents to advance its wholly owned Attawapiskat diamond property adjacent to De Beer’s Victor diamond property in the James Bay Lowlands, Ontario.

Leader Mining International gave back 4 to close at $2.66 on 196,700 shares. The company is working on a feasibility study for the Cogburn magnesium project in Britsh Columbia. So far, 2,152 metres of drilling has defined a measured mineral resource of 25.5 million tonnes grading 40.5% MgO (24.5% magnesium) by weight.