Trading Summary (June 07, 2004)

With just five subindices ending barely in the red, the Toronto Stock Exchange began the week with a 64.01-point rise to 8,412.75 on Monday, The diversified miners led the way finishing 5.22 points, or 2.4%, higher at 222.19. The golds managed to chip in a 2.24-point gain to make 201.42.

Wheaton River Minerals finished a penny poorer at $4.03 with just shy of 11.1 million shares changing hands. On Monday, Wheaton said that after “careful consideration and consultation”, it still isn’t interested in a revamped takeover bid from Idaho-based Coeur d’Alene Mines. Wheaton will instead put its planned merger with Iamgold before shareholders on June 8. Wheaton’s chief executive Ian Telfer said that the revised bid doesn’t significantly increase the value of the offer owing to the recent erosion of Coeur’s share price. Coeur’s CEO Dennis Wheeler said he was “surprised and disappointed by the hasty rejection of our increased proposal by the Wheaton River Board.”

Meanwhile, shares Wheaton’s proposed wedding partner Iamgold rose 7 to $7.77; Iamgold’s spurned suitor Golden Star Resources grabbed 6 to reach $6.60. On Monday, Reuters reported that the Ontario Superior Court said it looked like a decision on Golden Star’s application to present a formal takeover bid to Iamgold’s shareholders would take more than five hours. It was unclear if a ruling would be handed down later on Monday or on Tuesday. Golden Star has asked the Court to rule whether a bid would constitute a breach of a 2003 confidentiality agreement between the two companies.

Guyana Goldfields continued its recent ascent tacking on another 61, or 58%, to attain a new 52-week high of $1.66. On Thursday, the company said that diamond drilling on the Aurora mine property in Guyana has encountered a new gold zone about 1 km east of another new zone reported in late April. The latest discovery hole cut 46.5 metres grading 5.9 grams gold per tonne, including 33 metres (from surface) of oxidized material running 7 grams gold. The remainder of the hole cut bedrock or primary mineralization.

Pacific Rim Mining managed to jump 13, or 14.3%, to $1.04. The company recently granted MCK Mining a one-month extension, until July 30, of the due diligence period related to the proposed sale of the Andacollo gold mine in Chile. MCK can acquire the project by paying US$5 million in cash and issuing 4 million shares in staged payments. MCK plans to restart operations later this year, based on a previous 5-year mine plan that will be brought into compliance with NI 43-101 standards.

Bolivar Gold was no slouch putting in a 15, or 12%, climb to $1.41. There was no immediate news out of the company. Likewise, there was no news out of Niocan, but that didn’t stop the shares from plummeting a quarter, or 22%, to 90.

Shares in Teck Cominco jumped $1.13, or 5%, to 23.65 with more than 1.1 million shares traded. Late on Friday, Teck said that it and partners Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corp. have completed and approved the final feasibility study and production program for the Pogo gold project, 145 km southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. Construction plans call for the first gold to pour in March of 2006, with commercial production to follow by the end of August 2006.