Trading Summary (November 23, 2001)

The Oil & Gas subindex stood out again on The Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday surrendering most of Thursday’s gains in a 2% fall to 8,705.4 points. All of the other subindices put in modest gains led by the Industrial Products and Conglomerates subindices, which both climbed 1.6%. The gold and base metal issues lagged behind gaining just 3.86 and 8.1 points, respectively. By the end of the session, the TSE 300 composite index was 49.87 points higher at 7,432.4 points.

Tiomin Resources remained on investors’ radar screens with more than 1.2 million shares on the go. The issue, which trades in a 52-week range of 5 to 90, finished unchanged at a dime. Kinross Gold was the next busiest miner with just more than a million shares crossing the floor on their way to a two penny drop to $1.04.

Most of the nation’s gold majors traded sideways. Barrick Gold dropped 28 to $22.70; Placer Dome gained a quarter to $16.09; TVX Gold added 2 to hit 65; and Franco-Nevada Mining rose a nickel to $23.10.

Among the mid-tier producers, Agnico Eagle mines fell 13 to $14.24. On Friday, Agnico announced the closing of its US$125-million, 7.5-year credit facility with a syndicate of banks.A portion of the facility will go toward refinancing a previous credit facility of $100 million, of which $75 million was drawn.

The base metal miners saw similar results. Boliden led the way gaining 1.5 to 33 with 610,446 shares traded. Others on the rise were: Inco, up 31 to $25.29; Sherritt International, a nickel higher at $4.50; ands Breakwater Resources, which regained a penny to 24.

On Friday, Sherritt said it was discontinuing its quarterly dividend thanks to slumping natural resource prices and an uncertain outlook. The quarterly dividend, which was already reduced to 5 from 10 in the third-quarter, will be suspended. The company plans to use the money instead to "fund growth of its businesses."

Heading south were: Falconbridge, off 6 to $15.75; Noranda, off a dime to $14.70, Teck Cominco lost 20 to $10.85; and Aur Resources shed 4 to $2.81.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the trading week with strong gains led by a 3% jump in oil & gas related issues. The Canadian Venture Exchange ended the day at its high for the session, up 18.58 points, or 0.6% to close at 3096.01. The Mining Index followed suit tacking on 43.36 points, or 0.6% to close at 7,854.78.

On the back of plans to expand its Santa Rosa pilot plant in southern Peru, shares of Andean American Mining continued to attract traders. The company ended the week unchanged at 45 on 1.28 million shares. By early next year the company envisions a 3,250-tonnes-per-day gold operation on the property.

JNR resources ended the day unchanged at 4 on 197,000 shares. The company recently announced Kennecott Canada Exploration would proceed with uranium exploration at JNR’s Moore Lake project in northern Saskatchewan, next year.

Aquest Minerals lost 1 to end the day at 2 on 247,500 shares. The junior is proposing a 10-for-1 roll back of its shares and to change the company’s name to Aquest Explorations. The company had been exploring gold prospects in Guatemala. An extraordinary general meeting is set for Dec. 20.

Leader Mining International drifted lower for the second straight day falling victim to some apparent profit taking after posting solid gains over the past month. Shares in the junior dropped 2 to $2.68 on a volume of 74,900. Two diamond drill rigs are turning on its Cogburn nickel property near Hope, BC.