Trading Summary (May 30, 2001)

A 4.7% fall by the technology-laden industrial products subindex led the Toronto Stock Exchange to a 150.61-point loss to close at 8,101.4 on Wednesday. The pipelines subgroup was the only one to escape the carnage, tacking on 75.27 points, or 1.3%, to hit 6,068.21. The gold and precious minerals subindex fell 130.06 points, or 2.6%, and the metals and minerals subgroup lost 89.7 points, or 1.8%.

Gold miners Placer Dome and Kinross saw major selloffs over the day, both taking spots on the TSE’s most active list with more than 2.1 million shares on the move. Placer shed 52 to $16.78 on 2.8 million shares and Kinross dropped 15, or 11.4%, to $1.17. The rest of the field performed as miserably. Barrick Gold ended at $25.95, off 45, Franco-Nevada Mining fell 55 to $19.60, Normandy Mining lost 90 to $8.60 and Goldcorp shed 70 to $14.40.

Despite the results from a recently completed drill program that successfully expanded the Boston South, Naartok, P112 and Suluk zones on the Hope Bay gold project in Canada’s Nunavut Territory, partners Miramar Mining and Hope Bay Gold both got sucked into the vortex. Miramar lost 10, or 7%, to $1.30 and Hope Bay slid a penny to 39.

The refrain was the same among the country’s base metal miners. Noranda fell 42 to $16.80, Falconbridge slid 55 to $18.20 and Boliden lost 17, or 19.5%, to $70. Noranda and Falco announced that they have filed a lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Boliden regarding Boliden’s refusal to complete the sale of two projects in Chile.

Teck’s B series was the most active base metal issue with nearly 1.5 million on the go. The stock fell 40 to $16.10. Alcan dropped 72 to $68.38. The aluminium giant announced the sale of a number of foil-container facilities in Spain and Germany — part of the divestment requirements imposed by the European Commission as a condition for the company’s merger with Alusuisse Group.

Canada’s junior exchange lost ground for the second straight day. The Canadian Venture Exchange dropped 5.6 points, or 0.2%, to finish the day at 3,316.94. The Mining Index followed suit, losing 28.72 points, or 0.4%, to close at 7,115.64.

American Bonanza Gold Mining, formerly Asia Minerals, topped the most actively traded chart among junior explorers, ending the day flat at 5 on nearly 1.1 million shares. The company holds a number of exploration properties in Nevada and the Copperstone gold project in Arizona.

New Blue Ribbon Resources posted a modest rebound following yesterday’s selloff. Shares in the junior edged up 1 to 18 on volume of 868,500. Investors bailed out of the stock following the results from the first round of drilling on the Moose diamond property in Manitoba. The company’s joint-venture partner, BHP Diamonds, tested seven magnetic anomalies on the project without hitting kimberlite.

With a drill rig ready to turn, investors appear to be positioning themselves ahead of results from Radius Exploration’s Tambor gold project in Guatemala. Shares in the Simon Ridgway-led junior ended the day unchanged at 95 with volume hitting 129,700. A 20-hole, 2,500-metre reverse-circulation and diamond drill program will test five gold zones within a 6-km-long gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly.

Starfield Resources failed to got a boost on news that the first five holes of this year’s drill program on the Ferguson Lake copper-nickel-platinum-palladium property in Nunavut all hit the massive-sulphide horizon. Starfield ended the day at 63, down 3 on 136,400 shares.