Trading Summary (December 14, 2001)

A US$4.10-per-oz. jump in the price of gold to US$278.20 per oz. in New York sent investors racing to the Toronto Stock Exchange‘s gold issues on Friday. By the end of the trading session, the Gold & Precious Minerals subindex was up 173.25 points or 3.6% to 5,059.24. The base metal issues were next in line gaining 52.35 points or 1.3% to end at 4,039.78 points. Overall seven of the TSE’s fourteen subindices finished in the red.

Also in New York, palladium rose US$16 to US$399 per oz.; platinum gained US$2 to $466 per oz. and silver rose US8 to US$4.36 per oz. Most of the base metals were lower on the London Metal Exchange. Aluminum alloy and lead were slightly higher.

Barrick Gold finished as the TSE’s most active issue, behind only market heavyweight Nortel Networks, with more than 10.8 million shares traded. The issue climbed $1.15 to $25.75. On Friday, shareholders of Homestake Mining approved Barrick’s proposed takeover of Homestake. The move would create the world’s second largest gold miner. Shares of Homestake Canada climbed 42 or 3.3% to $13.36.

Lagging well behind, Placer Dome was the next busiest gold gaining 71 to $17.50 with just less than 2.7 million shares on the go. Performances were similar across the gold sector. Kinross Gold added 7 to hit $1.12; Franco-Nevada Mining rose 55 to $14.45; and TVX Gold climbed 6 to 65.

On Friday, TVX reported that operation had resumed at its Stratoni base metal silver-lead-zinc operation in Greece. The company had halted operations and declared a force majeure after a mining inspector ordered the company to move back 100 metres from an existing boundary.

The base metal miners saw less impressive results. Alcan was the most active with just more than 704,000 shares on the move. The aluminum giant’s stock regained $1.15 to $56.75. Also on the rise was Teck Cominco, which found 37 to reach $12.27. Most of the other majors suffered modest losses. Inco dropped 15 to $24.85; Sherritt International lost 4 to $3.96; and Noranda fell a dime to $14.40.

In the lower ranks, Sulliden Exploration plummeted 3 or 13.6% to $19. The company has suspended a 3,500-metres drilling campaign on the Mario base metal property, 50 km southwest of Huancayo, Peru. Drilling had not reach the halfway point.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the week with modest losses despite posting gains on Friday. The S&P-CDNX Composite Index ended the session down 4.56 points, or 0.5% to close at 989.93.

Amarc Resources topped the most actively traded chart among junior explorers, ending the day at 40, down 1 on just over 1.42 million shares. The company is gearing up to start exploration on its newly acquired Inde gold prospect in the historic Ind district, northern Durango State, Mexico.

Great Basin Gold ended the week up 1 to 68 on 410,800 shares. The Hunter Dickinson-led junior has been trying to advance the Ivanhoe gold prospect in Nevada.

Shares in Poplar Resource found some firm footing following yesterday’s loses. The company ended the week at 11, down 1 on 337,000 shares. The latest batch of assay results from an on going drill program over its Bottenbacken polymetallic property in Sweden failed to excite investors. Three of four holes drilled into the Central zone returned low grade copper, platinum, palladium, gold values.

Kensington Resources surged 3 to end the day at 68 on 141,900 shares. The company holds a stake in the Fort a la Corne diamond property in Saskatchewan, where new diamond counts are expected shortly.