Trading Summary (July 03, 2001)

The Toronto Stock Exchange‘s 300 composite index edged up 11.95 points to close at 7,748.3 on Tuesday as seven of the TSE’s 14 subindexes finished in the red coming off the holiday. The mining issues both headed south. The golds fell 45.69 points and the metals and minerals subindex shed 0.55.

In New York, gold and silver softened as platinum gained US$9 per oz. to US$582 per oz. Palladium dove another US$15 to US$552 per oz.

Barrick Gold was the country’s moist active gold issue with just more than 3 million shares on the go. The stock fell 50 to close at $22.60. Placer Dome was unchanged at $14.80 on nearly 1.4 million shares. H&R Block Financial Advisors has lowered its investment rating on Placer to neutral, citing less gold production and lower gold prices. Investor interest cooled on Kinross Gold as the issue fell 3 pennies to $1.25 on about 343,000 shares. Many market watchers see Kinross as a possible takeover target.

Teck’s B shares saw the most traffic among the base metals with about 703,000 shares on the move. The diversified miner’s shares edged up 3 to $12.98. Cash-strapped Boliden rose 4, or 6.7%, to 64 on 104,800 shares. The Swedish-Canadian miner has filed a final short-form prospectus for two equity offerings in the company’s restructuring and refinancing bailout package. Inco lost 55 to $25.65 on 214,984 shares, Noranda shed 13 to $16.06 on about 368,000 shares and Cameco dropped $1.40 to $30.50 with about 61,000 shares traded.

Canada’s junior exchange came off the holiday weekend in a dour mood. The Canadian Venture Exchange dropped 23.51 points, or 0.7%, to finish the day at 3,198.32. The Mining Index followed suit, losing 35.89 points, or 0.5%, to close at 7,446.45.

Ascot Resources topped the most actively traded chart among junior explorers, gaining 1 to 23 on nearly 2.4 million shares. The junior recently inked a deal that allows Cardero Resources to earn a 100% interest in a gold project in Argentina. Cardero ended the day unchanged at 36.

Investors sold off shares of RJK Explorations following the initial assay results from grab samples from the Stares-Calvert property in Ontario. The company’s stock soared last week on word that the bedrock source of high-grade base metal boulders has been discovered. RJK ended the day down 14 to 52 on 271,200 shares.

Snowfield Development lost 4 on news that it has inked a deal to earn a 100% interest in the Muskox South platinum-palladium property in Nunavut. Shares in the company ended the day at 24 on heavy volume of 677,500.

Klondike Gold ended the day flat at 11 on 173,365 shares. The junior recently failed to intercept sulphides in two holes on the Yahk property. It is currently drilling the Crawford Bay polymetallic property. Both projects lie in southeastern British Columbia.