Toronto Stock Exchange April 18-24

Profit taking saw the Toronto Stock Exchange ease from an earlier record-high close to end the April 18-24 report period 33.21 points better at 12,342.23. The gold miners managed to rebound and finish 3.48 points better at 324.55. The diversified miners performed similarly but were unable to get their collective heads back above water, dropping 1.42 points at 497.08, despite all of the metals becoming increasingly precious.

Gold ended the session US$7.75 per oz. higher at US$622.50 per oz. in London, thanks to continuing tensions over Iran’s refusal to end its uranium-enrichment program. Bema Gold reaped the benefits, gaining 68, or 12.1%, to end at $6.30 on more than 45 million shares — making it the busiest Canadian miner.

Other with heavy traffic were:

Queenstake Resources, up 1.5 to 47.5 on around 34.5 million shares; Eldorado Gold, 7 better at $5.85 on 22.6 million shares; Yamana Gold, off 81 to $11.87 on 17.1 million shares; Kinross Gold, which advanced a nickel to $13.23 on 17.1 million shares; and Northgate Minerals, gaining 13 to hit $4.17 on 16.7 million shares.

Queenstake has been riding Newmont Mining’s recent US$10-million investment higher for nearly a month. Eldorado got a boost from the onset of production from its Kisladag gold mine in Turkey. Northgate plans to spend US$2.2 million on permitting and engineering an underground exploration program, and baseline environmental and technical studies at the formerly producing Young-Davidson property in Ontario. Recent drilling there cut 7.62 metres running 8.38 grams gold per tonne.

Meanwhile, investors cashed out of copper and zinc miners, with both metals flirting about record highs. Among the busiest were: EuroZinc Mining, dropping a dime to $2.49 on 31.7 million shares; Equinox Minerals, shedding 2 pennies to $1.88 on 25.4 million shares; Constellation Copper, falling 15 to $2.45 on 22.6 million shares; and HudBay Minerals, drifting 3 lower to $12.77 on 18.5 million shares. Teck Cominco, the world’s top zinc producer, finished off 74 at $82.00.

Even the first harvest of cathode copper from its Lisbon Valley mine in Utah couldn’t keep Constellation Copper out of the red. Fellow copper miner Aur Resources slipped 54 to $15.86; the company recently relieved CFO John Knowles of his responsibilities.

Still, it wasn’t all doom and gloom, with impressive percentage gains seen by Guyana Goldfields, up $2.98, or 71%, to $7.18. Drilling on the Aurora Mine property in Guyana yielded up to 3.65 grams gold over 160 metres. The company also recently raised $20 million by selling 4.94 million units at $4.05 apiece.

Drilling on the San Antonio project in Mexico recently confirmed 4.5 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources running 1% copper at the Luz del Cobre deposit. Owner Zaruma Resources zoomed 46% to 20.5 in heavier-than-normal trade.

Shares in Denver, Colo.-based Gryphon Gold jumped 39% to $2.00 after drilling on its Borealis project in Nevada extended the Graben zone to the north and west. The width of the centre of the zone has also been increased. The zone is home to measured and indicated resources totalling 527,500 oz. gold.

TSX greatest percentage change

		Volume(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
Eastern Pla wt	ELR.WT	83	0.85	0.44	0.71	+77.5
Guyana Gldflds	GUY	5238	7.40	4.22	7.18	+70.9
Zaruma Res	ZMR	6885	0.235	0.15	0.205	+46.4
Gryphon Gold	GGN	1698	2.35	1.41	2.00	+38.8
Opawica Expl	OPW	10783	0.24	0.17	0.24	+37.1
Nevsun Res Wt	NSU.WT	353	1.78	1.16	1.67	+34.6
HMZ Metals	HMZ	1171	0.11	0.075	0.105	+31.2
Caledonia Mng	CAL	8088	0.215	0.16	0.21	+23.5
WGI Heavy Mnl	WG	67	1.20	0.85	1.10	+22.2
Avnel Gold wt	AVK.WT	31	0.70	0.48	0.61	+22.0
Ascendant C wt	ACX.WT	12	0.37	0.23	0.26	-29.7
Canadn Gld Hun	CGH	803	1.25	0.90	0.91	-23.5
Apollo Gold	APG	1915	0.94	0.71	0.73	-21.5
Ontex Res	ONT	135	0.23	0.18	0.23	-20.6
Chariot Res wt	CHD.WT	1201	0.29	0.22	0.235	-18.9
New Gold wt	NGD.WT	75	3.80	3.00	3.10	-18.6
Cross Lake Mnr	CRN	3188	0.18	0.14	0.15	-16.6
Cusac Gold	CQC	1207	0.40	0.315	0.315	-14.8
Frontera Cp wt	FCC.WT	1071	1.82	1.16	1.24	-14.4
Farallon Res	FAN	2719	1.01	0.83	0.84	-13.4

TSX greatest value change

		Volume	Close	Change
Goldcorp wt*	G.WT.U	12950	45.22	+4.22
Potash Cp Sask	POT	1013539	103.18	+3.72
Centerra Gold	CG	454884	45.52	+3.00
Guyana Gldflds	GUY	5237547	7.18	+2.98
First Quantum	FM	2057504	54.80	+2.88
Goldcorp	G	12716531	37.59	+2.035
Cameco Corp	CCO	7098132	47.25	+1.60
Tenke Mining	TNK	819566	16.00	+1.50
SXR Uranm One	SXR	2288957	11.00	+1.46
Denison Mines	DEN	1954988	16.30	+1.40
Pan Am Silver	PAA	1733592	27.00	-2.70
Royal Gold	RGL	24347	38.43	-2.33
Pan Am Silv wt	PAA.WT	26905	16.35	-2.08
Gammon Lk Res	GAM	2844781	17.45	-2.00
Inmet Mining	IMN	1755433	40.50	-1.85
Silvercorp Mtl	SVM	1871881	18.71	-1.55
Silver Std Res	SSO	582344	23.35	-1.43
Glamis Gold	GLG	5295351	41.00	-1.30
Aber Diamond	ABZ	644449	45.45	-1.26
Quadra Mng	QUA	2420529	9.75	-0.90

TSX most active issues

< td>Eldorado Gold

		Volume(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
Bema Gold	BGO	45029	6.34	5.55	6.30	+0.68
Queenstake Rs	QRL	34488	0.52	0.45	0.475	+0.015
EuroZinc Mng	EZM	31712	2.75	2.31	2.49	-0.10
Equinox Minls	EQN	25405	2.00	1.82	1.88	-0.02
Constel Copper	CCU	22629	2.70	2.30	2.45	-0.15
ELD	22590	6.00	5.61	5.85	+0.07
HudBay Minls	HBM	18529	13.40	12.00	12.77	-0.03
Yamana Gold	YRI	17076	12.88	11.61	11.87	-0.81
Kinross Gold	K	16703	13.68	12.76	13.23	+0.05
Northgate Mnls	NGX	15171	4.23	3.66	4.17	+0.13