Trading Summary (December 02, 2002)

The Toronto Stock Exchange started the week off with a 94.92-point gain to end Monday’s trading session at 6,665.34. The advance was mostly powered by the technology stocks, which climbed more than 5.5%. The Gold Index continued lower, shedding 0.88 of a po int to 162.99. The base metal miners were dragged along, falling 0.25 of a point to end at 130.17.

Placer Dome was the nation’s busiest mining issue, slumping 7 to $14.38 on more than 3.7 million shares, as the yellow metal surrendered a dime to finish at US$317.40 per oz. in New York. On Monday, Placer inked a deal to earn a 60% interest in Nevada Pacific Gold’s 24-sq.-mile Battle Mountain gold project in Nevada, for US$200,000 and US$4 million in exploration over five years. Placer can make boost its stake to 60% by completing a feasibility study.

Barrick Gold grabbed the final spot on the TSX’s top ten traded list, finding 27 to make $22.70. Kinross Gold fell 3 to $2.63 on about 1.3 million shares to round out the major gold producers.

Mid-tier producer GoldCorp dropped 20 $15.25 with a handful fewer than 1.7 million shares traded. Also on the minus side was Iamgold, whose shares were okayed for trading on the American Stock Exchange on Monday. The company’s shares will trade under the stock symbol IAG.

Nickel miner Inco was the most heavily traded base metal issue making 53 to end at $34.25. Others on the plus side were: Alcan, which rose $1.45 to $50; Sherritt International, up a nickel to $4.15; takeover target Fording ended 40 higher at $32.80; Teck Cominco‘s B shares grabbed 15 to hit $11.20; Boliden leapt a quarter to $2.85; Aur Resources, plus 19 to $3.79; and Breakwater Resources, up a penny to $13.

Ivanhoe Mines found three pennies to reach $3.05. The company reports the discovery of a new gold-copper porphyry system on its wholly owned exploration tenements in Mongolia. The new find represents the first gold-copper porphyry system outside the main South Gobi mineral belt that hosts the Turquoise Hill and Kharmagtai discoveries.

On the diamond front, Diamond Fields International continued to climb, adding a nickel to hit 57. Recently, Jean-Raymond Boulle and a group of dissident directors were elected as DFI’s new Board.

Heading the other way was Namibian Minerals, which fell 1.5 or 13% to a dime.On Monday, Namco reported third-quarter earnings of US$96,000 (or 0.1 per share) on revenue of US$15.2 million, compared to a year-ago loss of US$940,000 (or a penny per share) on US$4 million. Cash flow increased to US$1.2 million from US$993,000.

Canada’s junior exchange posted a slight loss as decliners beat advancers 320 to 279. The Venture Exchange S&P composite index closed down 0.84 points, or 0.09%, to 959.971 on a volume of 31.2 million shares.

MacDonald Mines Exploration traded 697,000 shares and remained flat at 5. The junior announced that effective December 2, 2002, the Rights of the company will trade for cash. The Rights expire on December 5 and will therefore be delisted at the close of that day.

Pan Asia Mining remained flat at 7 with465,000 shares traded. The company recently agreed to a private placement of up to 2 million units at a price of $0.05 per unit for a gross proceeds of $100,000. Each Unit will be comprised of one common share and one non-transferable share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional common share of the company for a period of one year at a price of $0.10 per share. A portion of the proceeds will be applied to the 701 diamond joint venture in China.

Arctic Star Diamond tacked on 2 and closed at 41 with 361,000 shares traded. The company recently negotiated a brokered private placement, with Canaccord Capital acting as Agent. The financing will place up to 1,500,000 units at a price of $0.25 per Unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one non-transferable share purchase warrant entitling the holder to purchase another common share at a price of $0.30 for a period of two years. The company is searching for diamonds near Wawa, as well as in the Attawapisk region of Ontario. The junior also searching for diamonds in northeastern Manitoba.