Trading Summary (July 24, 2001)

More earnings woes from tech stocks south of the border sent shares of Nortel Networks to a new 52-week low on Tuesday and sent the Toronto Stock Exchange along with it. Nortel shares ended the day down 48 at $11.17. The TSE 300 composite index fell 40.72 points to 7,568.5 points. Some investors sought refuge among the golds, which gained 100.46 points, or more than 2%, on the day. The metals and minerals subindex went the other way, losing 197.26 points, or 4.75%.

Alcan was the country’s most active base metal miner with nearly 1.8 million shares on the go, good enough for a spot on the TSE’s most active list. The stock fell $3.48 to $54.92. Alcan is fresh off poor second-quarter results and many analysts have cut their third-quarter earnings estimates for the aluminum giant.

Nickel giant Inco dropped 90, or 3.5%, to $25 after posting lower second-quarter earnings on lower realized nickel prices and higher unit cash costs. For the three months ended June 30, the company earned US$45 million (or 20 per share), compared with US$106 million (51 per share) a year earlier.

The refrain was the same across most of the group. Falconbridge dropped 40 to $16.50, Sherritt International fell 2 to $4.75, Noranda lost 19 to $16.25 and Aur Resources was off a nickel to $2.75.

Placer Dome led the country’s gold miners, gaining 89, or 5.3%, to $17.70 with nearly 1.7 million shares traded. The company was recently awarded the right to negotiate an agreement to develop the Pueblo Viejo gold-silver project in the Dominican Republic. It also agreed to sell off its 70% interest in the dormant Las Cristinas gold-copper project in Venezuela.

Other gainers included Barrick Gold, which gained 40 to $24.10, Franco-Nevada Mining, 35 higher at $21.10, Kinross Gold up a nickel to $1.29, and Meridian Mining, up 40 to $11.91.

Reno-based Meridian posted flat second-quarter net income of US$10 million (14 per share) on revenue of US$27.8 million. A year earlier, the company earned US$10 million (14 per share) on US$32.9 million in revenue. For the first half of 2001, the company earned US$16.4 million on US$54 million, down from the US$18.3 million earned on revenue of US$65.7 million a year earlier.

Kinross announced that all regulatory and shareholder approvals have been received by Pentland First Ventures for a previously announced deal under which Kinross intends to buy Pentland’s assets, in lieu of all debt owed to it.

Gains in mining-related issues failed to propel Canada’s junior exchange out of its Summer doldrums. The Canadian Venture Exchange composite dropped 4.18 points, or 0.1%, and closed the day at 3,073.70. The Mining Index surged 76.09 points, or 1%, and closed at 7,369.36.

Starcore Resources gained 2 to end the day at 15 on 754,100 shares. Earlier this year, the junior inked a deal that would see Placer Dome earn a 50% stake in its Legris Lake platinum-palladium property in Ontario. This property is owned equally by Starcore and fellow junior Avalon Ventures.

Larry Reaugh-led Verdstone Gold and Molycor Gold attracted some investor interest on news that the fourth hole of an ongoing drill program cut 2 metres of massive sulphides at the Pongo prospect in the Kamloops mining district of B.C. Shares in Molycor added a penny to 15 on 109,000 shares, while Verdstone ended the day flat at 10.

Copper Ridge Explorations closed out the day flat at 8 on 130,000 shares. The company recently picked up the Kalzas tungsten-tantalum-tin property in the central Yukon.

Investors appeared to ignore the latest results from the Magistral copper project in Peru as shares on Inca Pacific ended the day up 3 at 32 on weak volume. The junior’s joint-venture partner, a subsidiary of Antofagasta Plc. tabled results from four holes. Values ranged from 0.58% copper over 324 metres in hole 40, to 0.83% copper over 120 metres in hole 42.

Champion Resource lost 2 to end the day at 15 on 189,000 shares. The company is advancing the Farim phosphate deposit in Guinea Bissau, West Africa.