Trading Summary (July 11, 2001)

Moderate trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday made for a very modest rally in the broad market, with the TSE 300 composite index up 12.09 points to close at 7,570.78. The mining issues were among the strongest in the market as the golds added 197.10 points to close at 4,644.26 and the base metals picked up 46.68 points to end the day at 4,414.24.

The big news for the gold stocks was the Bank of England auction, which ended with an allotment price of US$267.25 per oz., higher than had been expected. Bidders subscribed for 2.6 million oz., four times the 643,200 oz. on offer. The result pushed the yellow metal to US$269 per oz. in late trading, though it later faded to around US$268.

Shares in the big gold producers responded, with Barrick Gold up $1.25 at $23.45, Placer Dome adding 70 to $15.90 and Franco-Nevada Mining jumping $1.08 to $20.30. Both the big producers traded heavily, with Barrick the most active at 3.3 million shares and Placer Dome seeing a volume of 1.5 million.

Strength was general in the mid-tier producers, with Kinross Gold up 8 at $1.38, Agnico Eagle Mines up 49 at $14 and Glamis Gold up 16 at $4.50.

The base metal producers were mixed, but with heavyweights Alcan and Inco both rising the metals and minerals index was stronger. Alcan was up 70 at $63.90, with second-quarter earnings on the way. Inco rose 32 to finish at $26.65. Noranda was 26 higher at $16.19 and Cameco pushed up $1.60 to close at $33.50.

Cominco continued a slide, falling 89 to $27.46. Parent Teck’s B-series shares fell 40 to land at $12.20 with 3.2 million shares riding the tape. Also down in heavy trading was Sherritt International, which slid 11 to close at $4.92.

Rex Diamond continued as the most heavily traded junior explorer, with 869,000 shares moving as the issue rose 5 to $3. Standard Mining, following a takeover bid by CDNX-listed Doublestar Resources, finished at 8, up 3.

Fort Knox Gold, which is assessing possible developments of dormant Inco projects in the Sudbury camp with Dynatec, was up 15 to close at $1. Another Sudbury explorer, Wallbridge Mining, added 10 to close at 75.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the day firmly in the red with mining and technology stocks seeing the biggest drop. The Canadian Venture Exchange fell 17.86 points, or 0.6%, to finish the day at 3,125.71. The Mining Index faired much worse, losing 114.13 points, or 1.5%, to close at 7,341.71.

Rhonda Mining dropped 2 to 40 on 289,400 shares. The junior’s joint-venture partner, De Beers Canada Exploration, recently announced that it cut wide zones of kimberlite in the fourth, fifth and sixth holes of the spring drilling program on the Knife kimberlite pipe in Nunavut.

Despite the announcement that a mechanical trenching program has expanded the newly discovered massive-sulphide zone on the Stares-Calvert property in Ontario, investors sold off shares of RJK Explorations. The company’s stock fell 4 to 65 on a volume of 120,300.

Eurasia Gold Mining ended the day flat at 3 on 566,000 shares. The junior is expected to produce some 30,000 oz. gold this year from two small heap-leach operations in Kazakhstan.

Radius Exploration continued to trade in a narrow range ahead of initial drill results from the Tambor gold property in Guatemala. Shares in the junior tacked on 5 to $1.05 on volume of 91,095.