Trading Summary (August 13, 2001)

The gold and precious minerals subindex put in the best percentage gain on Monday, rising 130.67 points, or 2.75%, to 4,883.53. The base metal issues didn’t fare as well, tacking on just 16.43 points to end at 3,933.3. Overall, the Toronto Stock Exchange slipped 12.02 points to close at 7,632.7 as six of the 14 subindexes suffered losses.

Palladium was the lone precious metal to fall in New York, slipping US$3 to US$462 per oz. Gold climbed US$1.80 to end at US$275.90 per oz., US30 higher than the PM fix in London. Nickel and tin were alone in posting modest gains on the London Metal Exchange.

Gold miners Barrick Gold and Placer Dome put in appearances on the TSE’s top 10 most active issue list. Barrick gained $1 to $25 with nearly 1.8 million shares on the go. Placer added 56 to reach $17.25 with just less than 1.3 million shares traded. Other gainers were Kinross Gold, up 2 to $1.38, TVX Gold, up 3 to 60, Glamis Gold, 13 higher at $5.03, and Meridian Gold, which gained 17 to $15.01.

Modest gainers among the base metal miners included Inco, up 9 to $24.55, Sherritt International, which rose 3 to $4.80, and Alcan, 26 higher at $54.52. Diversified miner Teck’s B series shed 18 to $11.10 and Falconbridge ended unchanged at $16.15. On Saturday, an early-morning furnace run-out forced a temporary suspension at Falco’s Kidd copper smelter in Timmins, Ont. The suspension is expected to last three weeks.

Canada’s junior exchange remained locked in a broad trading range with gains in oil and gas issues offset by losses in technology issues. The Canadian Venture Exchange lost 17.23 points, or 0.6%, to finish the day at 3,073.06. The Mining Index slumped 56.14 points, or 0.8%, to close at 7,399.91

Cash-strapped Chilean Gold dropped 2 to end the day at 38 on 294,500 shares. The junior recently acquired the Las Hadas property in Chile for $1.

Masuparia Gold lost 1 to close at 8 on 188,000 shares. The company announced plans to amend the price of 1.4 million outstanding warrants to 10 each. The junior recently closed a deal to earn a 51% stake in the Greywacke and Dickens Lake gold properties, north of La Ronge, Sask.

Profit taking drove shares in Poplar Resources 3 lower on the day to 24 on a volume of 161,000. Stock in the junior had climbed to a 52-week high on news that a planned $1-million financing would be used to advance its Bottenbacken palladium-copper project and Sundsvall diamond property, both of which are in Sweden.

Idaho Consolidated Metals bounced back after a recent selloff following the release of the assay results from its latest round of drilling on the Stillwater platinum-palladium property in Montana. None of the seven holes yielded significant values. Stock in the company ended the day at 50, up 2 on 61,700 shares.

Shares in Radius Exploration continued to rebound modestly following the results from the first four holes in the Tambor gold property in Guatemala. Stock in the Simon Ridgway-led company tacked on 2 to 99 on 111,800 shares.