Trading Summary (May 12, 2004)

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s gold index, up 0.15 of a point to 184.84, was one of just four subindices to end in the black on Wednesday. The diversified miners joined the rest of the crowd falling 1.1 point to 200.09. In the end, the S&P-TSX composite index was 17.39 points lower at 8,1887.67.

Zinc miner Breakwater Resources topped the TSX’s most traded list with a handful more than 15 million shares changing hands, enough to displace even market heavyweight Nortel Networks. Breakwater ended 4.5, or more than 11%, higher at 44.5. Breakwater recently posted first-quarter net earnings of $2.2 million on revenue of $60.2 million, compared with a year-ago loss of $1.5 million on $52.9 million in revenue. Cash from operations jumped 12-fold to $9.7 million. There was no news out of Breakwater on Wednesday.

Cambior grabbed a spot among the top ten volume leaders with just shy of 2.9 million shares making their way 21, or 7%, higher to $3.17. On Wednesday, Cambior reported first-quarter net earnings of US$7.3 million, up from a year-earlier loss of US $2.3 million. Cash flow from operations soared to US$7.8 million from just US$500,000 in the corresponding period of 2003. Revenue between the two periods climbed US$13.8 million to US$59.4 million. The improved performance comes thanks to the start up of the Rosebel mine in Suriname, which also chipped in a tax benefit of US$4 million for losses incurred during exploration.

Shares in Meridian Mining rose 66, or nearly 5%, to $14.66. Meridian’s first-quarter earnings came to US$9.8 million, up from US$8.5 million a year earlier. The increase is owing to higher realized gold prices and lower cash costs. Still revenue slipped by US$6.0 million, or 17%, primarily as a result of the Jerritt Canyon joint venture property.

Not such good news for Gabriel Resources, which plummeted 73, or more than 31%, to a new 52-week low of $1.60 after it warned of a probable yearlong delay at its Rosia Montana gold-silver project in Romania. The company doesn’t expect to break ground for mine construction until at least the second quarter of 2006. Resettlement and relocation of the Rosia Montana village and construction of new town sites at Piatra Alba and Alba Iulia are taking longer than expected. So too is the environmental permitting process for the mine.

There was bad news for Aluminum giant Alcan too, the company said on Wednseday that the government in Queensland, Australia has legislated away its rights to the Aurukun bauxite reserves in the northern portion of the state. Alcan’s shares slipped 39 to $53.84.