Trading Summary (September 10, 2001)

The Toronto Stock Exchange recovered slightly after opening lower on Monday but still finished off 24.07 points at 7,344.7, unable to tag along with the US markets, which enjoyed a modest rebound. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.05% on the day to 9,610.49 points, the Nasdaq index gained nearly 0.5% to 1,695.65 points and the S&P 500 index rose 0.63% to 1,092.58 points.

Teck Cominco was the nation’s busiest mining stock, falling 34 to $11.50 with nearly 1.7 million shares traded. The newly formed mining giant has admitted that a failure in its testing methodology at the Trail lead-zinc smelter in B.C. resulted in the contamination of 65 workers with thallium, a toxic metal that is linked to nerve damage.

As a whole, the Metals & Minerals subindex led the declining subindices with a 2% fall. The base metals themselves suffered losses nearly across the board. Tin, which was unchanged, stood out. Canada’s base metal majors suffered across-the-board losses. Alcan dropped $1.04 to $53.45 on more than 1 million shares, Inco fell 75 to $24.80, Falconbridge was off 13 at $16.10 and Noranda shed a dime to $15.50.

The Gold & Precious Minerals subindex led the TSE’s five advancing subindices, gaining 40.61 points, or 0.83%, to hit 4,907.41. The precious metals ended mixed in New York. Gold fell US$1.40 to US$271.50 per oz. Palladium rose US$5 to US$449 per oz. Placer Dome was the busiest gold issue with more than 806,000 shares changing hands. The stock gained 36 to $17.36. Barrick Gold added 16 to hit $25.20, Normandy Mining gained 26 to $10.57, Goldcorp rose 40 to $17.80 and Eco Bay Mines slid 13, or 14%, to 80, making it one of the gold issues biggest percentage losers.

In diamond news, Mountain Province Diamonds fell a dime, or 8.3%, to $1.10. DeBeers Canada Explorations reported that three of the four near-surface, sub-parallel kimberlite sills cut in the MZ Lake area have returned varying amounts of microdiamonds. Mountain Province holds a 44.1% interest in the AK-CJ properties, including the Kennady Lake project. Others on the skid included Diamond Fields International, which fell 14, or nearly 18%, to 65, and Trivalence Mining, which lost a dime, or 14.3%, to 60.

Canada’s junior exchange started the trading week off in a sour mood with only the Oil & Gas subindex posting modest gains. The Canadian Venture Exchange slumped 13.17 points, or 0.4%, to finish the day at 2,980.45. The Mining Index followed suit, losing 37.83 points, or 0.5%, to close at 7,477.72.

Donner Minerals got a boost from news that Falconbridge has signed a deal to earn up to a 50% stake in the South Voisey Bay project in Labrador. Shares in the junior tacked on 2 to 17 on a volume of 1.52 million. The deal involves Donner’s majority-owned subsidiary SVB nickel company, Northern Abitibi Mining, Major General Resources and Pallaum Minerals. Falconbridge must spend $23 million on exploration before the end of 2006 to earn its interest. The SVBN property, the Donner/Northern Abitibi property and the Donner/Major General property are centred 75 km west of the Labrador Sea coast, 90 km south of Inco’s nickel-copper-cobalt deposit.

Northern Empire Minerals continued to move higher on news that Ashton Mining of Canada cut a kimberlite on its 30%-owned Kikerk Lake property in Nunavut. Shares in the company ended the day up 2 to 23 on a volume of 706,966.

Shares in Poplar Resources gave back some recent gains, dropping 3 to 35 on a volume of 848,716. The company’s 65%-owned subsidiary is working the Sundsvall diamond and Bottenbacken polymetallic project. Both projects are in Sweden.

Quaterra Resources moved higher on news that the drill rig is turning on its Union Bay platinum-palladium property in Alaska. Shares in the company tacked on 1 to 24 on a volume of 406,500.